Up In Flames
by perfectlyrose
Summary: In the year since they became a team John Smith and Rose Tyler have made names for themselves as Team TARDIS, bank robbers extraordinaire. But Jack's in trouble again and a enemy from John's past has emerged to try and destroy the bank robbing couple. Will they be able to survive this new threat intact or will the life they've been building go up in flames?(Sequel to Watch it Burn)
1. Chapter 1

Here we go again! Team TARDIS is back in action after a longer than anticipated hiatus. I have chunks of this written but I can't promise an update schedule. I'll let you know if that changes. In the meantime… welcome back!

* * *

Rose carefully twisted and flipped through the web of lasers that filled the vault's antechamber. It was cute the way banks still thought that a few dozen moving laser tripwires would keep her away from the vault door.

After she slowly cartwheeled out of her last handstand and into the two foot space in front of the vault that was free of lasers she turned to look back towards the doorway where John was leaning against the doorway.

"Thought I felt you watching," Rose said with a smirk.

John slowly dragged his eyes up to meet hers, lips quirking up at one corner. "Been awhile since I got to watch you go through a laser grid."

"I know you haven't forgotten how flexible I am, not after last night."

"Oh, I haven't forgotten," he promised, voice low and dark. "But watching you demonstrate it in the catsuit is always a bonus, especially when I know I get to take it off of you later."

Rose grinned at him. "See, if I'd had that kind of motivation to work on my gymnastics as a kid, I'd've gotten better than the bronze."

She turned back to the vault and started pulling equipment out of the pockets of the utility belt strapped tightly around her waist. "Okay, are you going to walk me through how to use this stuff? You know I haven't broken this vault model before and you packed the new equipment."

"I've got it," he said, right behind her.

Rose jumped at the proximity of his voice. She glanced behind him to see that the lasers had all disappeared. When her gaze landed back on him he was wearing a shit-eating grin and showed her a little device in his hands that apparently controlled the lasers she'd just made her way through.

"Bastard," Rose said, hitting him in the chest. "You could've turned them off before I went through the trouble of getting through them!"

"Didn't want you to waste all of your flexibility practice. Besides, I like watching you work."

Rose huffed and bit back a smile. It was rare that he was this playful during a job and she was thoroughly enjoying his good mood.

John took the code breaker from her and swiftly hooked it up to the keypad next to the vault. He tapped an activation sequence into it and it whirred to life.

"How much time do we have?" he asked as they waited for it to pop the vault door.

"Fifteen minutes. Been in for seven," Rose answered, checking her watch.

"Plenty of time."

"Would have more if you'd just turned off the lasers to start with."

John's answer to that was cut off by the clicking of the vault door that indicated the code breaker had found the correct combination to open it.

"I love it when they only have electronic locks on things," he said, pulling the door open and gesturing for Rose to precede him into the vault.

"They were relying on the lasers, I think."

They rolled their eyes in unison and then the two bank robbers started loading the bank's cash supply into the bags John had brought with him, slipping into silence as they worked. Within five minutes they were ready to leave.

John reset the lock on the vault and waited until they were both safely out of range to turn the lasers back on. Rose ran ahead to pick the lock on the bank manager's office.

John joined her right as she pulled out their business card to set on the manager's keyboard. He squinted as something on the card caught the light.

"Did you change the cards?" he asked.

"Not substantially," Rose said, shooing him out the door so she could relock it. She handed him the card that they were going to leave on the front door of the bank. "I changed the color of our signatures from black to gold on the back of the card. Looks nicer."

"You know they're going to tie themselves in knots trying to figure out why we changed something."

"Probably will make them inventory their entire gold stock."

"Idiots," he scoffed. "Not worth it to steal gold."

Rose popped up to her feet, done with the lock, and headed towards the front door, John on her heels.

"Cameras still out?" she asked.

John dug in his pocket for his phone. He checked the camera feeds and confirmed out loud that they were still running the video loops he'd set up.

The pair slipped out the front door, pausing only to carefully tape their business card to the glass door. Then, with barely a whisper of the sound of booted feet on concrete, they disappeared into the dark San Francisco night.

It was a short walk to the apartment they'd rented for the month made longer by the anticipation that crackled in the air between them and their efforts to avoid street cameras. As soon as the door to their place closed behind them John pounced, pinning Rose against the wall and sealing his mouth against hers.

The bags containing the money they'd just stolen fell to the floor with a couple of loud thunks. John slipped one of his newly freed hands behind Rose's head, threading his fingers into her braided hair and using the leverage to change the angle of their kiss.

Rose's hands were far from idle. One hand slipped up the back of his jumper, relishing how easy it was to do when he wasn't wearing his customary leather jacket, and the other moved to his arse, splaying out and pulling him closer so his hips were pressing into her.

"Have I told you how much I love seeing you in your catsuit?" he murmured in her ear after kissing his way up her jawline. "Because it always drives me crazy."

"Mmm, I'm always open to hearing it again," Rose said, breathless as he bit down on her earlobe.

"I do always like it better when it's on the floor though," he said after a few seconds.

John laid claim to her mouth before she could tease him about being cheesy, giving every indication that he intended to be the one in control tonight and Rose couldn't find it in her to argue this time. She surrendered. Her blood was already singing from their successful heist and John's kisses and she let the rare thrill of relinquishing control join the heady cocktail of emotions.

It was like this every time. A year of working together, of bank heists and fights and figuring out how to be partners in every sense of the word, and he could still set her alight with a single touch. She still got a thrill from a successful job and it matched his and they always barely got back to their lodgings before they jumped each other.

They staggered a few meters closer to their bedroom, both of them losing their shirts along the way and refusing to let go of each other. John was doing his level best to make a mark on the side of Rose's neck to celebrate their success when the shrill tone of her mobile ringing made her whip her head around to look at the object sitting on kitchen counter where she'd left it earlier that night.

"Ignore it," John growled, not leaving the spot on her neck.

"Was plannin' on it," she said breathlessly, digging her short fingernails into his shoulder blades as she turned her attention back to him.

John hissed and ground his hips against her. Rose responded by hiking her leg up around his hip and rolling her own hips into his.

He was reaching for the fastening on her trousers when his phone started ringing almost immediately after Rose's finally went silent.

John and Rose pulled apart and shared a heavy look. There were only a handful of people who had both of their personal numbers and even less who would call them both at three in the morning.

John dug his phone back out of his pocket and hit answer despite the number being blocked. He put it on speaker immediately.

"Hello?" he said gruffly, voice still rough from snogging Rose.

"It's me."

"Jack?" Rose exclaimed incredulously. They hadn't heard from their friend in something like seven months.

"Good you're both there," the conman said. He was out of breath and the note of panic in his voice was one Rose had only heard twice before.

"You in trouble?" John asked, hearing the same thing Rose did.

"More than you can imagine. And not the fun kind."

"What can we do?" Rose asked.

"I need you to listen and I need you to pay attention. This is serious. Someone's - shit!" Jack cut himself off. "They saw me, hold on."

They listened as their friend started running, both bowstring-tight as they waited for Jack to start talking again.

"Okay, no time," he said after a minute, obviously still running. "Someone's after you two. They figured out that I know you. I don't know how and I don't know how much they know already but they want more information on you and have decided that I'm the best person to give it to them."

"Jack, where are you?" John asked. His voice went hard and cold as he thought about their friend being in danger because of them.

"Not important. You can't come after me. You have to hide. Just get off the grid and lay low for a while. I'll be fine."

"You don't know that, Jack," Rose protested.

"Yes I do. I'm always fine, sweethea-" This time when he was cut off it was with a scream.

The line went silent and John and Rose stared at the mobile in horror. Rose's shaking hands were covering her mouth and John had gone still as a stone as they tried to process everything that had just happened.

Before they could say anything else or decide to hang up the phone, they heard someone pick Jack's mobile up from where it had fallen. For a few seconds, all they did was breathe into the speaker as the two thieves held their breath.

"The Doctor and the Bad Wolf, how very lovely to finally meet you," a smooth voice with an almost sing-song quality to it said at last. "Your dear friend is mine to play with now. We're going to have so much fun. But don't worry about being left out of my little game, I'll be seeing you both very soon."

The man was laughing softly as John violently pressed the screen to hang up the call.

Rose stared at the phone for a second before looking up at John. He was unnaturally still, jaw clenched tight and eyes cold and blank.

She knew that look well. It was the one he wore when something touched on part of his past that he didn't want to talk about or be reminded of. It didn't appear as often as it used to but she still saw it on occasion.

Now wasn't the time to push him about whatever he was hiding though.

"We need to get out of here," Rose said, laying her hand over his on the phone. "We were on that call long enough for them to at least track us to the city."

John nodded sharply. "Bring me your phone," he said.

Once he had both phones he started working on them, wiping them of all information before removing the sim cards and batteries. While he worked, Rose retrieved her shirt from the floor and slipped it back on.

Silently, she started packing their few belongings, throwing clothes into duffel bags and erasing any trace of them having lived in this apartment. They traveled light so once John started helping, still stonefaced and stiff, they were ready to leave fifteen minutes after the phone call ended.

"What are we doing about the money?" Rose asked. She glanced at the bags of cash still by the front door. Normally they waited a week before redistributing the money but they couldn't stick around that long this time.

"Donate the lot on the way out of town?" he suggested. "We can send the bank a note later."

Rose nodded and walked across the room to heft one of the cash bags onto her shoulder. "You ready to go, then?"

John grabbed the last bag in response and they walked out the door, locking it behind them.

They stop at the children's advocacy center down the street from the apartment they were staying in and leave half the cash there with a scrawled note that it's an anonymous donation from someone who appreciates what they're doing for the community. The rest of the cash they leave at a women's shelter a few blocks away. That donation is left without a note as they know the shelter won't ask questions about where the money came from.

They find a cab and take it to the airport where they buy tickets for the the first flight of the morning which happens to be going to Seattle. John and Rose are quiet as they go through security and find their gate at the other end of the terminal.

Once they were seated in the nearly empty area, Rose reached out and rested a hand on John's thigh. "Hey," she said quietly, waiting for him to look at her. "Are we gonna talk about any of this?"

John shook his head. "Not here. We can figure things out once we find somewhere to stay in Seattle."

"I'm not going into hiding and leaving our friend to the mercy of that lunatic, no matter what he told us to do," Rose warned him, wary of his tone and the way he was talking about finding somewhere to stay.

Now he met her eyes, blue ice thawing slightly as they met warm brown. "I made the mistake of questioning your loyalty to your friends once, Rose. I'm not going to do it again."

"Working on making new mistakes then?" she quipped with a small smile.

"Seem to be. But we do need to get a temporary place in Seattle so we can regroup and come up with a plan. As soon as we have a course of action, we can go get Jack."

Rose bit down on her bottom lip, worrying at it as she considered asking about the man who'd been on the other end of the phone call. She knew John's tells for all that he claimed not to have any. It was obvious to her that he had recognized the voice and that it was someone from the past he tried so hard to forget about. Nowadays when she inadvertently wandered a bit too close to those shadowy bits of his life in conversation he would just press his lips together and tell her that he didn't want to talk about it instead of just clamming up or lashing out like he had when they had first worked together.

They had been making progress. Slow, painstaking progress but progress nonetheless.

Neither one of them talked about their past much still. He had his secrets and she had hers.

Most of the time that worked.

Today was not most of the time though. No matter how much he disliked it, John was going to have to share some of his secrets if they were relevant to figuring out who had Jack and how to get their friend back.

Rose sighed and leaned her head against John's leather-clad shoulder. Prying into his life could wait until they were not in a public location. Hopefully by the time they were somewhere secure, he would be ready to divulge the necessary information. There was no way he was planning on keeping this from her, they'd moved past that stage in their relationship.

She hoped.


	2. Chapter 2

So you know John's Mysterious Past™? Well you finally get to find out some of it :)

* * *

Rose fell asleep on the relatively short flight to Seattle, the retreat of the adrenaline that the heist and the subsequent phone call had sent storming through her had left her exhausted. John smiled down at the top of her head as she let out a soft snore from where she was using his shoulder as a pillow.

He envied her the brief respite of sleep. Rose could sleep anywhere, especially if he was around to watch her back, and she always managed to just go out like a light when she decided she needed some shuteye.

It was not a talent he possessed. He could go days without sleep or with just quick snatches of sleep with minimal side effects but he could not fall asleep on command like she could.

John didn't know why he found it so endearing that she was able to do so.

He waved off the flight attendant who stopped to see if he wanted a beverage or anything and then sighed, looking down at his partner once more. He had seen all the unasked questions simmering behind her eyes ever since the phone call had ended. All of those were going to come out as soon as they found a place in Seattle and John was in no way prepared for them.

Their pasts were a topic they both carefully avoided, choosing to focus on matters at hand, on them and what they were building together. Sure, they dropped in little tidbits that hinted at covered up pasts but it was mostly just about personal preferences or a snapshot of an experience they wanted to share with the other. The big picture was always left obscured.

He dragged his hand down his face. How the hell was he going to tell Rose what she needed to know without revealing the whole sordid story?

John trusted her, he did, more than he ever thought possible. Trust, however, was not the reason he was still hiding his past. There was blood on his hands that he didn't want Rose to know about, that he couldn't wash off, things that he had done that he wanted to keep shrouded in the darkness of his past instead of bringing them out to examine in the harsh light of the present.

For some reason, Rose still thought he was a good man underneath all of the layers he'd built up and he desperately didn't want to watch that faith in him die, didn't want to see the light that always shined behind her eyes when she looked at him go out - and it would go out - when she realized that she had been wrong all along. He wasn't a good man. He had made himself into a monster with a bloodstained soul years ago and then had disguised it under an almost infinite number of masks, trying to hide the truth from the world and from himself.

It had always been just a matter of time until Rose figured it out.

He just thought he would have more time.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

They got as far as dropping their bags in the extended stay hotel room they rented in Seattle before Rose turned to face him, determined look on her face and arms folded across her chest. His time was up.

"So you going to tell me who the man on the phone was, then?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. She figured diving straight into it was going to be less painful than dancing around the topic.

John swallowed hard. "Can we sit? This is likely to be a long conversation." He gestured towards the little table in their suite that was just outside of the kitchenette.

They sat, facing each other over a corner of the table. Rose bit down on her bottom lip, nervous about pushing for this conversation but knowing that it needed to take place.

"The phone call?" she prodded when John remained silent.

He let out a deep sigh. "I'm not sure where to start."

"You recognized the voice of the man who was after Jack, yeah?"

"I did and it's really bad that Jack's in his clutches."

"Figured that out on my own," Rose said. "Tell me about him? Who is he?"

"Goes by 'The Master' most of the time. Or he used to. I would guess he still does since his ego's bigger than his sense and he likes the power trip. He's a talented hacker and all-around criminal for hire." He pressed his lips together in a hard line. "He's a genius with no conscience. He enjoys inflicting pain. Doesn't hesitate to kill people if he thinks it's necessary or just because he thinks it will be fun or profitable."

"Sounds like a piece of work," Rose hazarded when he trailed off.

"He is," he responded flatly.

"Does he have a name to go with this bio?"

"If he does, I don't know it."

She arched an eyebrow. "Really? You know all of that but you don't know his name? You generally try to know everything."

"I don't know his name, Rose!" John ran his hand over his face in a frustrated motion. "Look, we were, for the lack of a better word, partners, a long time ago but we didn't use our real names and he never shared. I knew him as the Master and by his other code name of Koschei and I've stumbled across a couple of his aliases over the years but that's it."

Rose felt a curious sinking sensation in her chest as she parsed through the vague bits of information he was offering. "When you say partner do you mean…" she trailed off, gesturing between the two of them.

"No. Not like us. It wasn't anything like us and I won't make the comparison," he said quickly, recoiling at the mere thought of comparing what he and Rose had to the time he had spent with the Master. "And there was definitely no romance, so don't go thinking that that's what I meant by partner either."

"I wasn't!" Rose protested.

John just gave her a look.

"Fine, yes, I was thinking it," she admitted. "Thanks for clarifying."

He softened a bit, a rare bit of vulnerability glinting in his eyes as he reached out and rested his hand on hers. "He wasn't even really a partner, it's just the easiest word to use."

Rose gave a one shouldered shrug. "Just thought the two of you being involved would explain a lot about your reluctance to get involved with me at the beginning."

"I was never reluctant about being _involved_ ," he protested, voice caressing the final word.

Rose snorted, taking her hand back to cross her arms over her chest as she leaned back. "You weren't reluctant about getting me into bed but you _so_ were reluctant about being involved."

John conceded the point with a nod. "But there was nothing like that with Koschei. We weren't even friends really. Not any more than we had to be when working side by side non-stop for a few years."

He saw the skeptical tilt to Rose's mouth but she didn't say anything.

"I mean it," he insisted.

"Okay, I believe you!" she responded, putting her hands up in a gesture of surrender. "What else do I need to know about him?"

John stared at her, mouth slightly agape. "You're not going to ask me about why I was working with him or what we… what _I_ did?"

Rose shrugged again. "You can tell me when you're ready, if you're ever ready. I'm not going to push you for more than what I need to be able to help save Jack."

She paused and reached across the table for his hand before continuing. "I can't even imagine having to dredge up my past and spill everything just because someone popped back up again and started causing trouble." She shuddered. "Alright, I can imagine it and it's terrible. I'm not going to make that worse for you just to satisfy my curiosity. And I am curious, for the record."

Rose smiled at him, trying to ease some of the tension between them.

All John wanted to do in that moment was kiss her in gratitude, with all the love that he had yet to voice. He wanted to pour everything into a kiss that could make them both forget about their pasts and their current situation and focus on _them_ for a moment.

He wanted to kiss her and, as far as he was concerned, there was no reason for him not to. He moved around the table and then leaned down and pressed his mouth to hers, kissing the question of what he was doing right off her lips.

He gave her a series of light kisses, savoring the simple sensation of their lips sliding against each other. Rose wasn't interested in being as patient or deliberate as he was though. Using her grip on his shoulders as leverage, she pulled herself into a mostly standing position, trying to goad him into taking the kiss where she wanted it.

John smiled into the kiss when she let out a frustrated noise as he refused to open his mouth to allow her tongue entrance. He rotated them around, still holding off her attempts to deepen the kiss, and sat down in the chair she'd vacated. He pulled her down with him, eliciting a squeak from his lover as she tumbled into his lap.

As he'd expected, she wasted no time in rearranging herself so that she was straddling him and then diving back into the kiss. This time he let her coax his mouth open and he sighed happily when her tongue swept inside. It didn't matter how many times they'd done this, she still sent shivers down his spine and sparks rushing through his veins every single time.

John retained control, keeping the kiss slow and deliberate despite Rose's continued attempts to escalate it. He readjusted the hand he had threaded through her golden strands, changing the angle of the kiss slightly.

Rose nipped at his bottom lip and he responded by sweeping his tongue into her mouth. They were always playing this game, wrestling for dominance whether it was during a heist or a thorough snog.

It was always exhilarating even as it was now familiar.

John slowed the kiss, running his hands down her sides to rest on her hips as he pulled away. He rested his forehead against hers, just wanting to be close to her for a little bit longer. He knew they were about to face down the toughest obstacle either of them had ever encountered and he didn't know if they'd both make it out alive, much less together.

Rose had taught him how to hope again and he was hoping with every atom of his being that they would make it through all of this together but he wasn't going to take a single second with her for granted either.

Rose seemed to sense the change in his mood and her touch turned soothing, hand on his shoulder and thumb rubbing softly over his collarbone through his jumper. She leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to his lips before climbing off of his lap and taking the chair that had been his earlier.

"So, where do we start?" she asked.

"You're always the one with the grand plan," John responded. It was true, Rose had a gift for putting together a plan and thinking through all the different contingencies and potential obstacles and opportunities. He wasn't half bad at it himself but Rose was better.

"Well, first thing we need to do is figure out where he is and where he's holding Jack," she mused. He could practically see the gears turning in her mind as she started to turn the problem over like a puzzle box she needed to solve.

"He usually bases himself in London, at least for something this big."

"You know that for sure?"

"I've seen his fingerprints on crimes in the area in the past couple of years so I know he's still there and drawing us back there is definitely his style." He thought for a moment before divulging another piece of information that he'd been holding onto. "He was involved in the Agency job."

"He was _what_?"

John winced at the growing anger on her face but it was still better to tell her now than keep it a secret for any longer.

"I didn't know it when we broke into the Agency but when we pulled our first bank job I recognized his programming in the bank's computer security and the safe deposit box that the flash drive was in was under one of his aliases, Harold Saxon."

"And you didn't think to share this until now?"

"It wasn't exactly relevant until now and now I'm telling you!"

Rose took a deep breath and let it out. He was right. There was no reason for him to really share this until now and she'd known back during that first bank job that there was something about the security and the safe deposit box that he wasn't sharing, she'd just forgotten about it.

"You're right," she said aloud. "I'm just on edge."

"We both are," he replied, accepting her unspoken apology.

"Alright, do you think that this has something to do with the Agency job, then?"

"It has to," he said. "If it didn't, he would just be coming after me, not after both of us. Involving Jack makes it even more likely."

"So the question is, does he know that you're the Doctor? Is he coming after you personally or just professionally?"

"I can't tell. He might suspect it's me based on how I took down the bank security but I doubt he knows for sure."

Rose was silent for a minute. "We should probably assume he knows who you are. But you know him too so we can use your familiarity with him and his methods as an advantage."

"Always looking at the bright side," John quipped.

"One of us has to."

Rose tapped her fingers on the tabletop. "If you know your way around his systems, can you access them remotely to see if they have any useful information like his location or bits of whatever he has planned?"

John shook his head. "He knows my handle and how I work. If he suspects it's me he'll have blocked my normal ways in. Probably blocked them anyways just to be safe. Would take longer than we have for me to hack in, especially with only the laptop. Plus, he'll know the second I'm in his system. He'll be waiting."

Rose bit her bottom lip, considering their options. "What about that other hacker you were talking to last time we were in London. Oswin or something like that, yeah?"

"Clara. Her handle is Oswin."

"That's the one. Could you contact her and see if she can get into the system? I remember you saying that she worked a lot differently than you but was scary good."

John stared into the middle distance over Rose's shoulder as he mulled it over. "She could probably get in if I was distracting him at the same time. Keep him from noticing that she's slipping in the back door."

"Sounds good. Why don't you try and get in touch with her? I'll talk to some of my contacts back in London to see what the scene's like so we know what to expect when we hit the ground since that's our likely destination."

"We're going to have to leave as soon as Clara gets into the system. He'll be able to backtrack my signal and get our location since I don't have my normal equipment to mask it."

"Okay. We'll be ready," Rose said, getting up from where she was seated and cupping his face in her hand. "We're gonna take this bastard down."

John didn't say anything, just let out a slightly shaky breath and closed his eyes.

Rose pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead, ran her thumb over his stubbled cheek in a quick caress and then walked away, knowing that he would want to be alone to get himself back in control. She gathered her laptop and the mobile she'd bought at the airport when they landed and set herself up on the hotel bed to get to work.

John listened as she started making calls, recognizing the posh accent she used on occasion and the fake enthusiasm she was exuding as staples of her on the grift. She must not be talking to someone she trusted. He should really start working too but his mind kept drifting back to the last time he'd seen the Master, back when he knew him only as Koschei.

" _Target in sight. Two minutes to mission completion." Koschei said into walkie talkie before glancing over at John who was watching the target through a scope. "I'm ready to get out of this hellhole. They should really send us to nicer places to kill people."_

" _We do things other than kill people," John said shortly._

 _Koschei rolled his eyes. "Yeah, we scout out people that they then send another team to kill. Don't get all idealistic on me again, Theta. You know I hate that."_

" _Have you ever thought about getting out? Leaving all of this?" John asked, finally glancing away from his scope._

 _Koschei was looking down his own scope now, sighting the target. "Well we get shit pay for this so I've thought about peddling my considerable talents elsewhere." He activated his mic and began talking to their handlers again. "Mission commencing in three, two, one."_

 _He squeezed the trigger and a mile away the target fell to the ground._

 _John didn't watch the target's last seconds through his scope. This wasn't what he had signed up for when a special forces unit had recruited him out of high school. They'd fast tracked him through his degree path with a few other handpicked prospects. Had pulled him out in the middle of his doctoral program and dropped him in some godforsaken desert with the other recruits to be trained._

 _They gave them codenames that weren't names at all, just designations designed to make them forget they were people. John was Theta._

 _They'd all realized how deep they were when their first comrade died in training and their handlers didn't skip a beat._

 _There were those who seemed to enjoy the ruthlessness and blood a little too much, who always volunteered to go first in the violent training "games." John stayed as far away from them as he could, worked on swallowing down the bile in his throat whenever he ended up with hot, sticky blood on his hands, whenever the metallic scent hit his nose. He was doing what he had to survive, to try to keep at least a small piece of his soul intact._

 _He made it through camp without being responsible for another recruit's death but only barely._

 _By the time they left training and started being sent on missions, only half of the recruits remained._

 _The organization paired him with Koschei, a recruit from the camp before the one John had participated in. The other man trained Theta further as they went on missions, didn't complain or report it when Theta tried to avoid killing people himself, just took over the wet work himself._

 _John tried not to think about the fact that Koschei was probably one of the recruits who'd taken a little too much pleasure in camp activities. As it was, he and Koschei were partners for the foreseeable future and something akin to friends most of the time._

 _John flinched out of his memories when the report of the rifle sent shockwaves through their carefully chosen sniper nest. He didn't need to look through his scope to know that someone else had just hit the ground to never rise again._

" _What the hell, Koschei?" He burst out, reaching out to wrench the sniper rifle out of the other man's hands. "The mission was a single target, you didn't need to take out anyone else."_

" _It throws investigators off when they have to figure out who the main target was," Koschei argued, narrowing his eyes._

" _You don't even know who you just shot."_

" _We never know who we're shooting, just that we're supposed to take them out. Stop being such a bleeding heart."_

" _I'd rather have a bleeding heart than not have one," John retorted hotly, moving to quickly unload and dismantle the rifle._

 _Koschei snorted in response but didn't say anything else._

 _That night, when they were back in a bunker operated by the organization, John's mobile beeped. He rolled over in the narrow bunk to read the message that had come in. It was Koschei's mission report. John had hacked the system back at the very beginning of their partnership and had rerouted all mission reports to go through him first before they were sent to the handlers._

 _His heart sank and then started racing as he skimmed the report his partner had written. It contained a summary of all the times John had refused to kill a target, the instances where he had purposefully let a mission fail and the ones he had let Koschei complete even when he was instructed to do it himself. It contained information about their argument today and his expressed desire to leave the program._

 _It ended with a recommendation to the organization to take him out, permanently._

 _As quietly as he could, John gathered what little supplies were at hand and used his training to sneak out of the bunker. He had no clue if he would survive long enough to make a life outside of the living hell that was the organization when it would actively try to hunt him down for defecting, but he had to try._

 _He made his way across a barren stretch of land that smelled of stale dust and smoke and freedom. His heart felt lighter than it had since the organization had plucked him out of his flat in Oxford three years ago and he almost didn't care that he was likely being hunted already._

 _He was free and he was never going back to that life again._

John took another shaky breath and stood to make tea, hoping that it would calm his nerves even if he did have to make it in the microwave since the American hotel didn't provide a kettle. Koschei, or Saxon, or the Master, or whatever the hell he was calling himself these days was not going to make him run again. He braced his hands against the counter letting his head fall forward as Rose's voice from the other room washed over him.

This time he had something he was willing to fight for and he damn well wasn't going to let Koschei take her.

He had to assume that this whole ruse of taking Jack and luring him and Rose in was a way to get back at John for abandoning the organization, for abandoning him. It didn't matter to Koschei that he had tagged John for removal, it mattered that he'd left without a word and John _hated_ that he still knew a bit of how the Master's mind worked.

He'd crossed his path a few times in the years since he left, always online in hacking circles. He and Koschei had been the organization's best cyber operatives. When they weren't out on scouting missions or wet work missions, they'd been assigned hacking jobs together. He knew Koschei's tricks as well as he knew his own and he'd recognized him immediately whenever he stumbled upon his work. It had been a bit of a shock to see the Master's handiwork at the bank during the first heist with Rose. John still didn't know if Koschei had been working for the Agency or if he'd just contracted with them for that job.

He knew the other hacker could recognize him a good portion of the time as well and there was a gnawing worry in his gut that the Master had Jack and had found them because he'd recognized John's hacking as being the same as Theta's. If he thought about it too much, he knew the guilt would cripple him.

He had no doubt that Koschei was still looking for him even though he no longer worked for the organization that had brought them together. He was not a forgiving person and John could only assume he'd continued on down the destructive, bloody path that he'd been on when they parted ways.

The microwave beeped, letting him know that his water was hot and he moved almost mechanically to start preparing his tea.

It would be easier to take Koschei down if he was just a psychopath bent on revenge, but John knew it wasn't that simple. The man was as brilliant as he was deranged and it made him more than dangerous.

John didn't know how to beat him and that scared him more than anything.


	3. Chapter 3

John finished making his tea and took it to the desk where he'd set up his laptop. He may not know exactly how to take down the Master while keeping Rose safe and Jack from being killed but the only way to possibly accomplish it was to try.

He opened his laptop and navigated to one of the chat rooms on the deep web that he knew Clara frequented. He sent up a virtual flare that he hoped she would see and then started the waiting game. John half-listened to what he was fairly sure was Rose's third phone call and third different accent as he took his first sip of tea. He grimaced and barely managed to swallow the liquid. This was why he and Rose always found a flat to stay in where they could easily set up a kettle. Making tea in the microwave was barbaric.

He was halfway through his cup regardless when Clara messaged him back with a link to a secure private chat.

John quickly explained that he needed help with a hack because the target was familiar with his methods. He kept it as vague as he could on the details but made sure to tell Clara that this was a risky job if she took it. The target was likely to try and backhack her at some point and there was also the threat of him physically tracking her down and trying to do her harm.

Clara flippantly wrote back that her girlfriend was a soldier and would take anyone out that tried to hurt her and then asked when they were starting.

He let her know that he wasn't ready quite yet and was without his normal secure equipment and then started filling her in on the basics of his plan, including the fact that he would be distracting the target while she slipped in and got whatever information she could lay her digital hands on.

Clara made sure to clarify a few things and then gave him a method of contacting her directly so he could let her know when he was ready to start.

John thanked her and logged off.

He shut his laptop and walked over to the bed that Rose was lying on, still talking on the phone and typing notes on her laptop. He quickly shed his leather jacket, tossing it on the end of the bed before crawling onto it and leaning against the pile of pillows by the headboard.

Rose glanced over at him with a raised eyebrow, asking a question without ever pausing her conversation. He just offered a small smile in return and then closed his eyes, willing himself to relax.

A few minutes later, Rose wrapped up her conversation and hung up her mobile. He listened as she set her phone on the nightstand and finished typing a few things before her laptop closed with a soft click. The bed shifted as she leaned over to set the laptop on the floor and then there was a soft weight on his chest.

John cracked an eye open to look down at the blonde who was resting her head on his shoulder. She curled in closer, draping an arm over his chest and pressing against his side as she let out a soft sigh.

"We're going to pull this off," she said, words slightly muffled by his jumper. "We always make it work."

"I know," he answered, hoping that he sounded sure enough to convince her that he really meant the words.

She leveraged herself up so she would be looking him in the eye if his eyes were open. "Hey, look at me."

John reluctantly opened his eyes.

"I mean it. We can do this."

The hacker swallowed hard, tried to swallow the ball of fear that had seemed to be living in his throat since Jack called and didn't succeed. Maybe he needed to spit it out instead. Rose would understand.

She always understood.

"I'm scared, Rose," he admitted. The ball of fear didn't dissipate because he'd spoken of it aloud. It remained lodged in back of his throat, making it hard to breathe.

She settled back on his chest, knowing that it was easier to talk when they weren't looking at each other. "I am too. This guy who has Jack is terrifying."

 _You have no idea_ , John thought, a desperate laugh almost escaping his throat. Out loud he just made an affirmative noise.

Rose pressed a kiss to his collarbone through his jumper. "We'll make it through this and get back to robbing banks."

This time he did huff out a laugh. "Bank robbing seems like child's play compared to this."

"Pretty much is," Rose agreed. "It's not like the coppers have even gotten close to us yet."

John leaned down and dropped a kiss to the crown of her head before wrapping an arm around her and pulling her closer, holding on to her tighter than normal.

He wasn't telling her, but he was terrified that taking on Koschei would lead to him losing her, one way or another. Either his old partner would get his hands on her and take her out just to watch him suffer or he would be forced to reveal some of the past he had worked so hard to put behind him and he was positive that Rose would turn from him in disgust and disappointment if she ever found out the whole truth.

Rose tightened her grip when John did, trying to silently tell him that she was with him, that she wasn't going anywhere. She wasn't sure what had him this unsettled and worried but she was going to do her best to soothe him and let him tell her in his own time.

She had to be confident that he would tell her whatever she needed to know.

She had to hope that he would trust her enough to share everything else.

They stayed wrapped up in each other for a few more minutes, taking and giving what comfort they could. Rose pulled away first.

"I promised Amy I'd call her in a few," she said apologetically before leaning in for a quick kiss.

"That's the ginger grifter, right?" he asked once she'd pulled away.

"The tall one," Rose clarified since she was friends with a couple of people that fit his description. "She's not really in the game anymore since her fiancé is more or less on the straight and narrow but she's still got her ear to the ground."

"I should probably start getting things ready for the hack with Clara," he admitted. "Got distracted earlier."

"But she said she'd help?" Rose asked.

"Forgot I hadn't told you. She's definitely willing to help. I'm supposed to contact her when I'm ready to go."

"Sounds good. Let me know when you're about to start too. I'll pack up our things and be ready to leave."

John nodded and looked like he was about to say something else but the loud ring of Rose's mobile cut him off before he could start.

Rose looked at it and rolled her eyes with fond exasperation. "It's Amy, must've thought I forgot that I was going to call her. Go do your hacker thing."

John could only shake his head slightly, smile quirking the corners of his mouth upwards. It never failed to amuse him that Rose knew so much about every aspect of committing a crime and could put together an intricate plan for breaking the most difficult targets without breaking a sweat but could never get a handle on what it was he did with computers.

She tended to call it magic. He tended to tease her about being computer illiterate, a claim she always refuted hotly, telling him that she was as perfectly capable of using a computer as the next person and he shouldn't judge her by his hacker standards.

He rolled off the bed and headed back to his laptop as Rose answered her call.

"Hey Ames, I didn't forget about you." Rose said immediately, smiling as she settled back on the pile of pillows against the headboard.

"I'd be offended if I thought you'd forgotten about me! Just thought you might've gotten distracted and I'm bored since Rory's out of town this week." Amy's Scottish voice rolled over Rose like a balm. It had been too long since she'd talked to her friend.

"I was talking to John but I was about to call you."

"You do tend to get distracted by him but since he makes you happy, I'll let it slide," she said.

"Generous of you," Rose retorted dryly.

"I know. So, what's going on? Been awhile since I've heard from you. Still off traveling the world and stealing things?"

"It's a good combination," Rose said. "And yeah, we're in America right now." She hadn't told Amy that she and John were the bank robbers who had been making headlines, just that they were traveling.

"Isn't it like really early in the morning over there?" Amy asked.

"Earlier than I usually like to be awake."

"Guess this isn't a social call then."

"You'd already guessed that, Amy," Rose said with a sigh.

"I had, but I've always been a better conman than you," she teased gently.

"That's because you refused to teach me all of your tricks!"

"Had to keep something to myself! Needed to stay in business!"

"Of course," Rose said, smile audible in her voice.

"But really, Rose. What's going on? You're dancing around the point and that's never good."

Rose sighed again. "In a bit of trouble, Ames."

She snorted. "Aren't you always?"

"Not like this. This is bad and it involves me and John."

"Right. So, I'm assuming you called to ask for help so what do you need?" Amy immediately switched to being all business.

"Is there anythin' weird going down in London right now? Anything that seems off?" Rose asked.

"I haven't heard anything. Just the normal weirdness of the city and its resident criminals." She paused. "Is there anything specific I should be on the lookout for?"

Rose chewed on her bottom lip as silence stretched over the connection.

"Rose?"

"Sorry, was just thinking. But yeah, if you hear anything about someone calling himself 'The Master' or Koschei or Harold Saxon, let me know and keep an eye on it. Might have ties to the Agency but I can't be sure."

"Master, Koschei, Saxon. Got it. Don't think I've run across any of those names, though there was a Harry Saxon running for Parliament last year I think. I don't think he won the seat and I haven't heard anything about him since."

"Still good info though. Gives me somewhere to start digging."

"What else do you need? I know I'm an excellent source of criminal gossip most days but you have other connected acquaintances you can get this stuff from," Amy said.

"I need you to get some things from John's flat," Rose admitted. "There's a good chance that it's being watched so we can't go ourselves."

John turned away from his laptop to make eye contact and nod in agreement, letting her know that he agreed with her plan.

"That mean you're coming back to London finally?"

"More like being forced back to London, but yeah."

"Good, it's been too long since I've seen you. I mean, not good that you're being somehow forced back here but you know what I mean."

Rose cracked a smile, picturing the pacing and gesticulating that was undoubtedly accompanying Amy's words. "I know what you mean. So, you'll get stuff from the flat for us?"

"Of course! What do you need?"

Rose rattled off a list of her equipment and where in the flat it was as soon as Amy told her she had paper to make a list. By the time she was done with that, John handed her a list of his own that he'd scribbled down on the hotel notepad for her to relay to Amy.

"Got all of that?" Rose asked when she came to the last item.

"Think so! Will it all fit in a duffel bag?"

"Should."

"Perfect. Do you know when you're going to be back so we can meet up and I can give you your stuff?"

Rose glanced over at John but he had his headphones on and was laser-focused on his laptop which meant he was preparing for the hack.

"Don't know for sure but definitely within forty-eight hours," she said.

"I'll go over there tonight then. Do you have door codes for the building?"

"Yeah, and there's a security system in the flat itself." Rose gave her the necessary codes and instructions for disabling the flat security

"Sounds like a bit of overkill," Amy said.

"It is but John's a security nut."

"Most hackers are."

Rose hummed in agreement.

"And how are _you_ doing, Rose?" Amy asked, voice uncommonly gentle for her. "Are you okay?"

"I was doing brilliantly until last night or this morning or whenever we got the bad news," Rose admitted. "Having the time of my life travelling with John and breaking laws in multiple countries."

"That's my girl."

Rose laughed weakly.

"Is there anything you can tell me?" Amy pressed. She knew her friend well and she knew Rose didn't fare well when she bottled everything up and let it fester.

"Not a lot," she said apologetically.

She paused and then just let words spill from her mouth. "I'm just so _worried_. This Master guy has John more tense than I've ever seen him and he's closing off in ways that he hasn't in months. I'm worried that we won't get a win here with what we're trying to do and I'm worried that we won't make it through in one piece even if we do."

"Rose, the two of you are solid. You'll get through this," Amy assured her.

"What if we don't?" Rose exhaled roughly, a bad facsimile of a laugh. "I feel silly for worrying about this when there's so much danger lurking around but I can't help it. I'm worried about John and what this is doing to him and what it might do to us and -" she broke off with a frustrated noise.

"Rose, take a deep breath for me."

She did as she was instructed and let Amy calm her down over the phone.

When Amy continued, it was with her signature blend of kindness and bluntness that made her one of Rose's closest friends. "Now listen to me. You're being stupid but not for the reasons you think. It's completely okay to be worrying about John and your relationship. I'd be worried about your relationship if you weren't, honestly! But you've got to talk to him about it."

"It's not that easy…"

"It is that easy. You love him. He loves you. Talk about it."

"Amy…"

"Nope, don't want to hear it. Tell him you're worried and why and maybe he'll start talking more too. You don't get to complain about him being all bottled up when you're the exact same way. Two way street there."

Rose groaned. "I hate it when you make sense."

"Lucky for us I don't do it very often."

Rose looked over at John again, just in time to see him take his headphones off. "I'm about to start. Clara's ready."

She nodded and he turned back to his screen, slipping headphones back on again.

"Okay Ames, I've got to go. I'll let you know when and where to meet us as soon as I know, okay?"

"Sounds good. Take care of yourself, Rose, okay?"

"You don't have to mother me. I'll be fine."

"You need so much mothering. Make sure to eat some vegetables. Maybe have some stress-relief sex with that hacker of yours."

Rose groaned. "I'm hanging up now."

"I'll see you soon!"

"Yep! See ya soon."

Rose rang off and stared at the ceiling for a moment, composing herself. She took a deep breath and then swung her legs over the side of the bed and starting gathering the few things they had unpacked during their short stay.

By the time John said thanks and goodbye to Clara and powered off his laptop, Rose was by the door and ready to go. When the door swung shut behind them, there was no trace in the anonymous hotel room that they had ever been there at all.


	4. Chapter 4

Look! An update!  
Seriously, I apologize for going so long without updating this. There was a combination of hitting a writing block on this fic and me being really discouraged about it's general reception (I know, it's a sequel and a WIP and those combine to give lower response but while my logical brain KNOWS that, my heart/muse does not lol) and it led to me focusing on other projects and shying away from this one.  
I do promise that this will be finished but I cannot promise how quickly. Thank you SO MUCH to those of you who are still reading, it means more to me than you know. 3

* * *

Rose mulled over Amy's advice as she and John headed to the airport and purchased tickets for the first flight out to London. It made sense, she knew it did, but the airport and then the plane did not allow them the privacy they would need for that kind of conversation.

It would keep, she told herself, worrying at her bottom lip as she watched the blackness fly by outside the plane window. Until they got to her flat, it would have to keep.

Besides, Amy was right. She and John were solid. They could get through this current disaster intact. Perhaps not all of their secrets would be so lucky, but that could be a good thing. There were definitely times when the weight of their individual secrets put stress on their relationship, that they pressed into its hairline fractures.

Rose looked over to where John was dozing fitfully, the overlong day finally catching up with him. She was almost ready to share some of her secrets with him. Most days she thought she was completely ready, but then she would start to worry about if he would look at her differently once he knew everything and she would back off the idea of laying herself bare.

"You're staring," he grumbled, not opening his eyes. "I can feel it."

Her mouth quirked into a small smile. "I thought you were sleeping."

"Trying, but someone is staring at me."

"Rude." Rose shut the window and put the armrest between them up so she could cuddle into him. Neither of them were very good at talking about their feelings, about the things that made them who they were. There were times like this though, when she could hear his heartbeat beneath her ear and there was nothing else they could do except hold onto each other and hope for the best, that she barely kept a certain three word phrase from spilling off her tongue.

Now wasn't the time to finally tell him, though. They would have time later. She would make sure of it.

/

They bought two new mobiles at Heathrow and Rose called Amy the moment they cleared customs to confirm that she had made it in and out of John's flat without any trouble and figure out a place to meet.

"All good?" John asked once she'd rung off.

"Yeah. We're meeting her at an office building in an hour. She said she had keys to get into one of the office suites after-hours and it would be a secure place to meet."

"Do I want to know how or why she has these keys?"

" _I_ don't even want to know and she's one of my best friends." Rose said with a laugh.

They grabbed a taxi and gave the driver an intersection a few blocks away from their actual destination and settled in to watch as dusk fell over the city.

"It's always good to be back in London. I never realize that I miss it so much until I come back," Rose said. She leaned her head on John's shoulder.

"Were you getting homesick with all the travelling?"

"Not really. I was with you and doing what I love, I just like occasionally coming back to where my roots are, I guess."

John turned to press a kiss to the top of her head. "I've got a bit of a soft spot for London, too."

"Guess that's why we still pay exorbitant prices to keep our flats while we're not using them," she teased.

"Speak for yourself, I don't pay rent," John said. Rose pulled back and saw a smug grin spread across his face.

"Right, because you're the wanker who _owns his building_."

"You're never going to get over that, are you?"

"Nope. Not a chance."

Rose's mobile vibrated. She quickly pulled up the text from Amy and showed it to John so they both knew the code to get into the building and the suite number where their friend would be.

Ten minutes later, the cab pulled to a stop. John quickly paid the driver and he and Rose set off on foot to their actual destination.

"You ready?" Rose asked. She adjusted the strap of the duffel bag so it wouldn't cut into her shoulder through her jumper.

"As I ever am," John replied.

"I know Amy's a handful but she-"

"She's a friend, I know," he interrupted.

"That she is," Rose said, spearing him with a look and a raised eyebrow.

"And she is doing us an enormous favor," he said. It sounded like he was reminding himself of all the reasons there were to be nice to the grifter who was more Rose's friend than his.

"She's not going to run a con on us, John." Rose bumped her shoulder against his arm. "If you'd give her a chance, I really think you'd like her a lot."

"She _introduced herself_ by trying to run a con on me," John grumbled.

Rose laughed. "Classic Amy. And if you'll remember, I've made friends by stealing wallets before."

They both sobered at the reminder of how Rose and Jack had met, each of them worried about how their friend was faring.

"This is it," John said, coming to a stop in front of a nondescript office building.

He quickly keyed in the entry code and gestured for Rose to go ahead of him. She led the way up the the third floor and to the suite where the grifter should be waiting for them. The door wasn't locked so Rose opened it and let it swing open.

A wide grin spread over her face as she caught sight of Amy in the middle of the open office space, leaning against a column and examining her nails.

The ginger looked up and her grin was as big as Rose's. "Look at you! You're a bit tan! I'm jealous, I don't think I've seen the sun in two weeks."

"There are definitely perks to not being in London in the fall," Rose shot back as she made her way over to her friend.

"Obviously!"

Rose wrapped Amy in a hug and then pulled back to press a kiss to her cheek.

"That's hardly a proper greeting when I haven't seen you in almost a year!" Amy protested. Before Rose could do more that curl her lips into a smile, the other grifter laid a smacking kiss on her lips.

She released Rose who was grinning and looked past her to John who had followed on Rose's heels. She smirked at him and held out a hand for him to shake. "Stop bristling, big guy, I'm not going to steal your girl. I'm very happy with my Rory."

Amy waited a beat after shaking John's hand to continue. "Although, if things don't work out there I will come after her."

Rose laughed. "You're not my type, Ames."

Amy made a derisive noise and gestured to herself. "Look at me, I'm everyone's type."

Rose sidled up next to John and slid her hand in his, rubbing her thumb over his skin in soothing circles. He was already on edge and grifters often irritated him, despite the fact that he was friends with Jack and in a relationship with her, and Amy was a grifter through and through, no matter which side of the law she was working on.

Playfully pretending to hit on her probably wasn't helping matters either. John hadn't been around Amy enough to know that she was entirely joking. Or at least mostly joking. The truth of the matter was that Amy was completely head over heels in love with Rory and everyone who knew her well enough to see past her flirtatious front could see it clear as day.

"Anyways," Amy said, smiling as she flicked her gaze down to the couple's joined hands for a split second, "I've got the stuff you asked for. Thanks for giving me the security code to the system in the flat, you know I'm hopeless with those things and that one looked like overkill."

"What is it with grifters and not knowing how to disable security systems?" John asked as he took the duffel bag from Amy and started rifling through it.

The ginger grinned. "Well, if I'm doing my job right, the mark just," she made a clicking noise and mimed the turn of a lock, "opens the locks and turns off the alarms for me."

"I had to teach her how to pick locks," Rose added. "Gotta have a back up plan for when a con falls through."

"I took to it quickly," Amy said. She wiggled the fingers of one hand and raised her eyebrows. "Talented fingers, you know."

Rose couldn't hold back her laughter. John just rolled his eyes, but Rose could spot the way the corners of his mouth twitched. Amy was definitely growing on him.

"Looks like everything's here," John said, zipping the bag back up and hoisting it over the shoulder that didn't already have a bag hanging off it. "Thank you."

"You're very welcome. I don't know what mess you two have landed yourself in, but when you've got it all sorted you have to come over for dinner with me and Rory. He does the cooking so I promise it will be edible."

"That sounds great, Ames. I don't know when we'll be free with everything that's going on but…"

Amy waved her hand. "Oh, I know. But you two are an amazing team and I'm sure you'll have this all handled in no time. Call me when that happens and we'll have dinner. I need some quality time with you and a bottle of wine before you go globetrotting again."

"You fiancé won't mind you bringing over a couple of criminals?" John asked.

"He's marrying me, he knows at least half my friends are criminals. As long as you're not actively breaking the law while at our flat, it's all good with him."

"I'll call you to set something up, I promise," Rose said. She gave Amy another tight hug and then picked up her own duffel bag again. "Thanks so much for the assist, Amy. I owe you one."

"Come to dinner and we'll be even. Actually," she looked up at John, "if you bring dessert to dinner, it will be even. Rory's a good cook but neither of us can bake to save our lives. I still have dreams about whatever chocolate creation Rose brought over last Christmas."

John's mouth quirked up into a smile. "I can do that."

"Good. Now, on with you both. You've got problems to solve and I have a dinner party to inform my fiancé about."

They both thanked Amy again and made their way out of the building by a different route than they'd come in.

"Are you sure my flat is our best option?" Rose asked once they were on the street.

"I think so. You've essentially lived off the grid for years and are almost impossible to track. I erased what few breadcrumbs that tied you to the alias that rents the flat awhile back. We should be safe there for a bit."

Rose nodded and they set course to her flat by a circuitous route that would hopefully shake any tail they picked up. When they reached her building, she led him around the back to the fire escape and through the window into her living room.

"Home sweet home," she said, dropping her bag on the floor with a thump. "I can't wait to see my bed."

"Could do with some sleep myself," John admitted as he closed and locked the window. "Let's do a sweep of the flat and then get some shuteye before we start planning Jack's rescue."

Rose thought that sounded like a perfect plan and told him so before starting a quick visual sweep of the flat, knowing John would follow behind her with one of the devices in the bag Amy'd given them that would search for bugs.

The sooner this was done, the sooner they could sleep and be clear headed to tackle the problem of the Master and getting Jack back, and the sooner Rose would be able to take Amy's advice and actually tell John some of the things that she wanted to tell him.

Sleep first. Planning and relationship maintenance later.


	5. Chapter 5

John quietly extricated himself from the still sleeping Rose's embrace after a few hours of sleep and padded towards her kitchen. His head was spinning with memories of the Master and and vague plans to take him down that refused to coalesce into something he could actually _use_ and all of it was infused with worry for Jack and for Rose. He was terrified that the Master would get his hands on his precious girl and John knew without a doubt that he would torture her just to make him suffer.

John squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath, trying to banish the image from his head. He needed a distraction and the best one he knew was baking.

He hadn't spent much time in Rose's flat so he started rooting through her cabinets as quietly as possible to see what she had to work with. A few minutes later he was staring at the collection of dishes and utensils he'd gathered in consternation. Rose had two knives, a small mixing bowl, a dodgy mixing spoon that had seen better days, and two cookie sheets. That was it. There were no cake pans, no spatulas, no anything that he would consider actual baking materials.

John was almost scared to look in the cupboard to see if she had any ingredients.

He had known from the start that she was a disaster in the kitchen but this was still a shock. Everyone should at least have the basics in their kitchen.

He wrote a quick note and left it on the kitchen counter for Rose in case she woke up before he got back and slipped out the door. There was a 24 hour Tescos down the block that should have what he needed, even if it was two in the morning.

Rose was still fast asleep when he returned with bags full of baking utensils and ingredients. He quickly put everything away and set the oven to preheat while he washed the new dishes he planned on using.

By the time the oven beeped its readiness at him he was almost done mixing his favorite chocolate cake batter. John hummed absently as he stirred the batter and then poured it into the cake pan. He slid it into the oven, set the timer then started working on his icing.

His mind quieted like it always did when his hands were busy creating sweets. The chaotic tangles of thought from earlier slowed and started to swirl into the shape of a nebulous plan.

His main goal at this juncture was to keep Rose away from the Master at all costs. Rescuing Jack and taking down his old enemy and one-time friend were important goals as well but they remained secondary.

He plotted as he waited for the cake to finish baking. By the time it was counting down its final seconds he had decided on a course of action. He turned the timer off before its beep could disturb the quiet of the flat.

John pulled the cake out and left it to cool as he went to go check on Rose. He stood in the doorway, gazing at the sleeping blonde. She was sprawled out over the whole bed, hair splayed across the pillow. There were soft snores emanating from her and John couldn't suppress the small smile that bloomed on his face, didn't even want to. He wasn't sure exactly when he'd fallen in love, but somewhere along the way amidst the bank heists and bickering and long nights in bed he had undeniably ended up head over heels for his cheeky partner in crime.

She made him better. He couldn't explain it but he was simply a better version of himself around her. Rose drove him crazy half the time, challenged him, made him mad, but she also made him smile more than he had in years. She always, always gave him hope.

That's why he couldn't let her get near the Master. The man took pleasure in destroying beautiful things and he wasn't going to let him do that to Rose. He wasn't even going to give him a chance.

She was going to kill him for trying to shelter her, was going to say that she could take care of herself and he knew that she could. But he _needed_ to protect her from Koschei.

Rose was too important to risk. A world without her light wouldn't be worth living in.

Ignoring the cake waiting to be iced, John shucked his jeans and crawled back into bed with the woman he loved. Without waking, she curled into him almost immediately, gravitating towards his presence like she always did. John buried his nose in her hair and worked on committing the smell of her and the feel of her skin underneath his fingertips to memory.

She had forgiven him once, but if his plan went the way he expected it would, he doubted he would be granted such benediction again.

As long as she was alive and safe, John thought he could live with the knowledge that Rose hated him.

As long as she was alive and safe, John thought he could do anything to keep her that way, even if it meant destroying himself and their relationship in the process.

He pulled her tighter against him and for just a moment tried to forget every reason why this might be his last opportunity to do so.

When Rose awoke about an hour later, it was to the lingering smell of warm chocolate in the air and the firm press of John's arms around her.

"Mmm, this is nice," she mumbled, still half asleep.

"Mornin'" he said, nuzzling into her neck. He was content to continue ignoring the outside world and the problems they were dealing with for another few minutes.

Rose flipped over so she was facing him, bumping her nose against his before leaning in for a quick kiss. "The flat smells like chocolate," she said after pulling away slightly. "Did you get up in the middle of the night to bake again."

"Might've done."

"Smells good."

"Want me to go get you tea so you can have cake in a bit?" he offered, knowing full well that she didn't do anything before having a cuppa unless absolutely necessary.

"That'd be brilliant, ta."

He laid another kiss on her lips, lingering and soft, before pulling away and climbing out of bed to go put the kettle on.

Rose watched him go appreciatively, admiring the view of his legs since he wasn't currently wearing trousers. She knew she should get up and get started with the day, that time was of the essence when it came to rescuing Jack but it wasn't often that John came back to bed for a cuddle or offered to go get her tea.

Between that reaction and the fact that he had gotten up to bake at some point, Rose knew he had to be more nervous about the Master than he was letting on. Daft man, always trying to keep things from her when he knew she was a grifter who could read people, who could specifically read him better than probably anyone else in existence.

Rose sat up, propping the pillows up against her headboard so she could lean against them. She had just settled in when John walked in with two steaming mugs in his hand. He handed the lighter colored one to Rose and cradled the darker one in his large palms as he sat back down on the bed with her.

Rose smiled at him, eyes still heavy with sleep. "Thanks, John."

He just nodded and took a sip of his tea. Rose followed suit, humming quietly as it hit her tongue.

Rose was halfway through her cuppa when something occurred to her. "Hold on, we're in my flat and I know I don't own a cake pan but you said you made cake."

"You didn't own anything that could actually be called bakeware," John said. "And nothing even resembling a cake pan."

"You said 'didn't.' Does that mean I now do own bakeware."

"Maybe."

"Did you seriously go out and buy kitchen supplies in the middle of the night?" Rose asked, incredulous.

"It was an emergency. No kitchen should be that lacking in supplies," John insisted.

"I can't believe you made a Tescos run in the middle of the night to buy bakeware for my kitchen."

"And cake ingredients. You didn't have _flour_ , Rose. Who doesn't have flour in their kitchen?"

"I don't _bake_!"

"Rose, everyone should have flour."

She just rolled her eyes and took the last gulp of her tea. "Whatever. I want to see what you made."

Rose scrambled out of bed and pulled on the jumper she'd left on the floor the previous night before heading towards the kitchen.

John finished his tea and followed her.

"Yum, chocolate," Rose said, leaning over the cake and taking a deep sniff. "Smells delicious."

"Should taste delicious too. Still have to frost it before you can start eating though."

"Mmm, okay. You do that, I'm going to put water on for more tea."

"Sounds like a plan."

"Not the one we need to make though," Rose said reluctantly. She didn't really want to return to the reality of their situation but they had to eventually. "But let's do tea and cake and then we can move on to working on our plan to rescue Jack."

"Always a damsel in distress, that one," John quipped, swallowing down the guilt of keeping Rose in the dark about his real plans.

"He'd be able to pull off the princess dress if he had one," Rose mused.

"What makes you think he _doesn't_ have one somewhere?"

Rose paused with the kettle in her hand, cocking her head to the side as she considered it. "Good point. He probably does."

"Probably has multiple," he said, starting to smooth the icing onto the cake.

Rose set the kettle to boil and plopped teabags into their mugs. Once the tea was ready, she took the mugs into the living room and waited for John to cut the cake and join her. They were quiet as they ate, except for Rose's compliments on the cake.

The things unsaid weighed heavy in the room, suffocating any other avenue of conversation.

She washed down her last bit of cake with her last swallow of tea and set her dishes down on the end table. She padded over to where she'd left her bag the previous night and dug for her notepad.

"Are you ready to get to work?" She asked, settling back down on the couch crosslegged.

"Let me grab my laptop so we can take a closer look at the info Clara got for us," John said. He grabbed their dishes and deposited them in the sink before getting his laptop. He sat on the other end of the couch from Rose and quickly opened up the files Clara had sent him.

"We didn't get much with the hack, but we have the building where I think Koschei has set up his headquarters. I would guess that he is keeping Jack there, too."

Rose shifted to look at his screen. "Show me."

He pulled up the address on Google Maps and switched to street view. It was a fortress of a building. Two floors plus a basement, limited windows, and a wall topped with barbed wire obstructing a clear view of any entrance points.

"Not ideal," she said. "Can you go ahead and print that for me?"

John printed the street view photo and handed the laptop to Rose so she could look at the surrounding buildings while he got the printout. "See anything useful?"

"No," she admitted, frustration already seeping into her voice. "Looks like a goddamn fortress. It's not going to be easy to get in and probably even harder to get out."

"Sounds about right," he said. He opened one of the folders he hadn't looked at closely. It looked like dossiers on various London-based criminals. He recognized a few names but no one who was particularly close to either him or Rose.

He was about to set these aside for later when he caught sight of a folder labeled "TT." He opened it up and his heart stuttered. There was a subfolders labelled with his and Rose's Team TARDIS names, as well as one on Jack. A separate folder had information on all of their signed heists, starting with the Agency job.

"What's wrong?" Rose asked, breaking his concentration. "You just went pale."

He turned the laptop around so she could see the screen. "They've been doing research on us. This has to be how they found Jack."

Rose leaned in to look at the multitude of folders on them and their activities. "We already knew that Jack was taken to get to us. This just confirms what he said. Have you opened these to see what they have on us?"

John shook his head and turned the laptop back around. He opened the Bad Wolf folder first.

"Yours is empty," he said, surprised. "It looks like Clara got in deep enough to get the folders but not the information in them before the system booted her out."

Rose made a face. "Any of them have information?"

John opened the folder on himself. There were a few files in there but they were all incomplete and unreadable.

The files on their heists were more intact.

"They have very detailed reports of the jobs we've pulled. Police records and second opinions from other thieves. They've even tracked where some of the money went."

Rose gave a low whistle. "So, they know exactly how we operate."

"Looks like it."

"Guess we're going to have to mix things up if we want to have any chance of getting Jack out, then. They'll be ready for our usual tricks."

John could practically see the gears turning in her mind as she tapped a pen against her bottom lip. He loved watching her scheme.

"What do you have in mind?" he asked.

"Oh, I think I have a few tricks up my sleeves," she said, smile forming. "They won't know what hit them."

John tried to let her familiar sharp smile settle his nerves but he kept going back to those corrupted files in his folder. He couldn't shake the feeling that the Master knew exactly who he was, knew that John and Theta and The Doctor were one and the same. If he knew that, it didn't matter what tricks Rose could throw at them, the Master would be ready for John.

He knew what that meant. He'd hoped that helping Rose come up with a plan of action would dissuade him from the plan he'd formed while baking but it seemed like the only way forward now. John was going to have to go in alone, consequences be damned. He had to keep Rose safe.

The match had been lit in John's mind the moment he'd decided on his plan, it was only a matter of time before it burned his fingers or he dropped it on the pyre on which he stood. Either way, everything was going up in flames.


	6. Chapter 6

They worked on their plan for the rest of the day, pausing only when Rose insisted that they eat something other than cake. Luckily, John had picked up some food while at Tescos and could whip up some lunch for them. They didn't want to tip anyone off that Rose's flat was occupied again, so takeout and delivery were both off the table, and John knew better than to let Rose cook anything, even in her own kitchen.

Slowly, Rose laid out a plan, turning her coffee table into a familiar scene of organized chaos. She had pages of notes and printouts layered over maps. Pens and highlighters were scattered around the table and lists of supplies were being made and edited.

Rose chewed on the end of the pen in her hand as she looked at the plan. "Do you think it could work? There's a lot of luck involved. Too much we don't know about the security and layout of this place."

"I think it's the best plan we have," John said. "We don't have time to watch the place and find out more."

"That's not an answer."

"I think this plan gives us a chance," John hedged.

"Not a very good one," Rose muttered. She threw her pen down on the table with a frustrated groan. "Jack is at stake here and I can't even come up with a plan to save him that has more than a forty percent chance of working."

"We'll get him out of there, Rose," he swore. He set aside his laptop and put a hand on her knee. "Walk me through the whole thing again, we'll see if there's anything we can tweak to improve our chances."

Rose took him through it again, explaining how she intended to get over the wall unseen and making sure to check with him every time there was a tech obstacle to see if he could handle it like she thought he could.

"Once we're inside, we're going to be blind. Based on what you've told me about the Master, he fancies himself a proper villain. He probably has Jack in the basement like it's some kind of dungeon."

"Sounds about right," John agreed.

"So, we get in, hopefully unseen, and make our way downstairs, taking out guards and cameras as necessary."

"And how do we get out? We don't know what kind of condition Jack will be in."

"Like I said before, getting out is going to be harder than getting in. There's every chance that they'll figure out we're there and be looking for us as we try to escape. Speed is likely to be more crucial than stealth. So, if they're onto us, the best bet is to run for the front gates and hope we're faster than them."

"And if they start shooting?"

"Then our chances drop," Rose said bluntly.

"And what about the Master?"

Rose made a face. "He's a wildcard in this. We know he's probably expecting us to make a try for Jack, but hopefully he won't be expecting us to strike this soon. We don't know if he'll actually be in the building or not." She bounced her knee as she though. "Getting Jack out is our priority. We get Jack, regroup, plan our attack on the Master so we can take him down for good. Hopefully we catch the Master off guard by not attacking him directly this time."

John nodded. "Probably a good approach. What's the exit strategy if they're not onto us being there?"

"Same as the entrance. In and out the same way."

Rose watched John's face as he stared at the physical evidence of this plan and committed it to memory. His focus was laser-sharp and she felt more confident seeing it. This may not be their best plan, but the two of them could make it work.

They had to make it work. She didn't want to think about what would happen if things went pear-shaped.

(She had thought about it, had made contingency plan after contingency plan and more kept spinning through her head, but she shied away from the thought of actually having to put them into action.)

"Timeline is tomorrow night?" John asked, jolting her back out of her thoughts.

"Yeah, we need to use the darkness for cover. The building grounds are probably lit but the shadows will still help. We can use tomorrow to make sure we have everything we need to carry out the plan. I'm pretty sure it's all here but…"

"Better safe than sorry," he finished.

"Exactly." Rose yawned. "I think it's time for bed. Don't know about you, but all this planning has worn me out."

"Could use a kip," John conceded. He didn't look away from the plans, though.

"We need to be rested up for tomorrow," she said. "Come to bed."

He finally looked up at her soft plea. "Alright, but I can't promise to get much sleep when I'm this wound up."

Rose gave him a tired smile. "I'd offer to wear you out but I think I'd pass out before either of us got off."

John leaned over and kissed her, sweet and slow. When he pulled away, he pressed their foreheads together. His thumb brushed against the soft skin of her cheek. "Let's get to bed. Tomorrow's going to be a long day."

He followed her into the bedroom and they readied themselves for bed in comfortable silence. Rose turned off the lamp as soon as she crawled into bed, shrouding the room in darkness. She curled into John's side and closed her eyes on a quiet sigh, praying that her tiredness would override the swirling plans in her brain and let her sleep.

John hoped that the beat of his heart didn't give him away. It pounded out a rapid tattoo of anxiety against his rib cage, just under Rose's cheek. He tried to memorize the way Rose fit against him and the scent of her hair and the way her presence settled him in a way not even baking had ever accomplished. He wanted to carry this sensation with him forever, wanted to tuck it in next to his heart for future dark days when there wasn't any love to be found.

There was every chance this was the last time he would be able to hold her like this.

Even if everything went to plan, which was unlikely, he didn't know if Rose would forgive him for going off on his own.

He waited until Rose's breath evened out, signaling that she was asleep, before slipping back out of bed. Him getting up in the middle of the night was a common enough occurrence that Rose barely stirred at the disturbance.

He quickly redressed and padded into the living room for one more look at Rose's plan. He'd been incorporating bits of it into his own plan as the day progressed. His version probably had a lower probability of success than what Rose had put together but it would keep her out of Koschei's clutches.

John gathered the tools he needed, loading them into his duffel bag. When everything was gathered, he sat down and wrote a note for Rose. He knew it was no replacement for an in-person explanation and would do nothing to help temper her anger, but he wasn't going to disappear on her without a word.

He hesitated over how to close it. There was so much he wanted to tell her, about himself and about them and about how he loved her more than words could convey but he didn't have time and this wasn't the place to do so. He couldn't tell her he loved her when he was leaving. He wouldn't.

If he was lucky, he would have the chance to tell her after all of this was over. He hadn't prayed in years, but he sent up a plea to anyone who might be listening that she would be willing to listen to him.

John signed the note and pressed his lips to it in a final kiss for Rose. He left it where she would find it easily in the morning and slung his bag over his shoulder.

He hesitated with his hand on the doorknob, a heavy feeling in the pit of his stomach. John thought he might be more scared of the consequences of walking out this door than he was of the mission ahead.

He opened the door, the whisper-soft hinges testament to the fact that a thief lived there. Rose slept as John stepped over the threshold of the flat and into the hallway. The door shut silently behind him and John tried not to push away the feeling of finality that accompanied the action.

/

Rose woke slowly. She stretched out, reaching to see if John was still in bed but the other side of the bed was cold. Used to him getting up before her, she took her time dragging herself out of bed. She grabbed one of his jumpers and slipped it one before padding towards the kitchen, expecting to find John there.

The kitchen was empty.

Rose glanced around her flat but her partner was nowhere in sight and it started to sink in how extremely silent the flat was. Dread filled her stomach, a heavy scrabbling feeling that weighed her down and made her feel like she was moving in slow motion as she really started looking around.

As soon as she re-entered the kitchen, her gaze zeroed in on a piece of paper propped up against the kettle. It was with great trepidation that she picked up the note and started reading.

 _Rose,_

 _I know you're probably fuming right now and you have every right to be. I have to do this alone. The Master is so much more dangerous than I can explain and he wouldn't hesitate a moment to hurt you to get to me. He would know how much you mean to me at a glance and I can't risk you. You're too important._

 _I'm sorry to sneak out in the middle of the night. Hopefully by the time you're reading this, I've either already completed the mission we were planning or am in the process of doing so. As soon as I've got Jack out, I'm going after Koschei. Neither of us are safe until he's out of the picture._

 _Rose, I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I know there's a good chance I'm ruining everything but I have to keep you safe._

 _I hope I'll see you soon. You can yell at me then._

 _Yours,_

 _John_

Rose read the note over again, heart speeding up as his words sank in. He couldn't possibly be this stupid. The plan she'd laid out was only possibly going to work if they were working together. No one could get in and out of that place on their own, especially not when the Master was probably expecting them to make a try soon.

Worry choked her as her brain started spinning through new plans. Neither John nor Jack had reappeared which meant it was now up to her to rescue them both.

She scanned the note again. Idiot man thought she would be furious when she read this instead of worried out of her mind. Anger could wait until later, when he was safe and she could tear into him for not letting her in on his plan and trying to keep her out danger.

Rose put the kettle on and started making tea. She was going to need it if she was going to put the plan that was starting to form in her head into action. It was crazy and could backfire in so many ways, but, and this was a big but, if it worked… she could save John and Jack and take down the Master all in one fell swoop.

It was time to pull out all the stops.

Rose wrote a quick outline of her plan as she drank her tea and then picked up her mobile. She dialed a number she knew by heart. When the sleepy Scottish voice grumbled at her from the other end of the line, she smiled.

No one was around to witness the sharp-toothed grin or the feral gleam in her eyes.

"Amy, I hate to draw you back into the criminal world, but I need your help. John went and got himself captured" She paused to let Amy express her disbelief for a moment before barreling forward. "How fast can you get over to my place? I need you and your phone and laptop and any weapons you're comfortable using."

She listened to Amy tell her that she'd be there in half an hour and then rang off, needing to move on to the next phase of her plan.

She had a hacker to rescue now and crazy was the order of the day, apparently. The Master was going to regret touching the people Rose loved.


	7. Chapter 7

_Earlier that morning:_

John's feet hit the dirt inside the Master's compound at exactly 3:02 in the morning. There was a distinct lack of guards around the perimeter, sending John's paranoia spiking. There should at least be a couple of guards patrolling the outside.

He'd known all along that this place was a trap but now fear prickled along his scalp as he stared it down. This was a different kind of trap than he had anticipated. John took a deep breath and stepped out of the deep shadows clinging to the perimeter wall to dart towards the main building. Nothing to do but keep walking straight into it and hope he could outwit whatever Koschei had set up.

John slipped into the building after a far too brief struggle between his lockpicks and a side door. Nerves thrummed through his body, making his shoulders tense. This was too easy and every instinct was telling him to run while he still had a chance to do so. Rose was probably still sleeping, blissfully unaware of the bridge he'd set fire to by leaving the flat. He could still go back and douse the flames and try this again later with her by his side.

John crept forward. He had a mission to complete and turning back now wasn't an option, no matter how much he missed having Rose's insight and comforting presence with him. He even missed her chatter over the comms that drove him crazy half the time. But he had to keep the Master away from her.

John made sure the knife he'd brought with him was ready to be drawn as he continued down the corridor. He normally avoided violence where he could but he knew better than to come into Koschei's territory unarmed. He opened a door, looking for the way down to the basement and cringed when the hinges squealed in the heavy silence.

He took off running after ascertaining the room was a storage cupboard, trying to put as much space between him and the source of noise as possible. He opened another door, grateful for the way it swung open silently, and slipped inside.

No sooner had he closed the door behind him before a door across the room opened. John's skin crawled as he laid eyes on the figure backlit in the doorway. He couldn't see his face yet but he didn't need to.

The man started clapping slowly and his mocking smile became clear as he stepped into the room, joining John in the shadows.

"And here I thought you'd be much tougher to catch, Theta," The Master said, smile still on his face. "You're slipping."

John clenched his teeth and didn't respond.

The Master looked around. "Didn't bring your pretty little partner? How disappointing. I was so looking forward to meeting her."

A growl tried to crawl its way up John's throat but he swallowed it down. He wouldn't give Koschei the satisfaction of knowing how much Rose meant to him, at least not this easily.

"Nothing to say? I'd say it was a shame but I think I'll have fun making you talk. I'm getting bored with your friend. Pesky Torchwood training is a pain to break." He moved closer, each step deliberate. John was reminded of a predator stalking his target and he didn't particularly care for being the prey.

"I'm the one you were after. Let my friend go," John said.

"I don't think I will. Perhaps if you'd brought your partner along, I would've considered it. But I have a feeling your little wolf is going to try and rescue the pair of you and I'm not going to let the opportunity to have the entire set slip through my fingers."

"What do you want with us?" John asked, hoping to keep him talking and distracted as he prepared to draw his knife.

"At first I just wanted to make you pay for interfering with my plans, but then I figured out that you were the Doctor," Koschei said. He continued walking towards John.

"And your plans now?"

"Can't you figure them out, old friend?" The Master chided. "And to think, they used to call you a genius."

John checked the impulse to roll his eyes and made a move for his knife.

The Master moved faster, pinning John against the wall with a forearm over his throat and a bruising grip on John's wrist. The knife clattered to the floor as the Master applied more pressure on his wrist.

"Tsk tsk, you shouldn't have done that, Theta. You know I was always better than you at hand to hand combat." He pressed his forearm harder against John, cutting off his air supply. "Besides, you don't have the stomach to kill me and we both know it."

He let go of John and stepped back, stooping to pick up the knife on his way. John coughed as he tried to catch his breath, not taking his eyes off Koschei. The man's gaze was cold as he watched John and John would not be forgetting the manic gleam that had been in his eyes as he choked him any time soon. It seemed Koschei had lost some of the tiny bits of sanity he'd clung to back when John had known him.

"You're a disappointment, just like you always were," the Master said with a sneer, disgust lacing his tone. "If this is your best effort to save your friend, then I'll have your wolf captured the moment she shows her face without having to use any effort at all."

John carefully kept his face blank. The Master obviously thought Rose was the weak link in their partnership, that she simply followed behind John. He wasn't going to disabuse the Master of that notion. The less he knew about Rose, the better her chances. He was more certain than Koschei that Rose would stage a rescue. She never turned her back on her friends.

"I'll have you talking soon enough," the Master said. "We have so much to catch up on."

As a few of the Master's henchmen led John away and up a set of stairs to the top floor, he hoped that Rose had a better plan to come in solo than he had. He'd been stupid to try and protect her and now all he could do was wait for her to make her move pray that she would come out of this in one piece.

/

 _Midnight:_

"You ready?" Amy's voice was soft in Rose's ear, coming over the comms Rose had shared with her.

"About to go in," Rose replied. "You?"

"Ready as I can be. You sure this is going to work?"

"No, but it's better than any other plan I came up with," Rose said. "It's not too late to back out. I'm going in but this is my fight, not anyone else's."

"We're sticking to the plan, Rose. Not leaving you to face this alone," Amy declared, steel in her tone.

Rose took a deep breath. "Okay. Let's do this. I'm going in. Keep me updated on your position and what you find but I'm going quiet."

"Gotcha. See you soon," Amy said.

Rose squared her shoulders and scrambled up the perimeter wall of the Master's compound. Every heartbeat was laced with worry. John had been in the Master's clutches for too long, and Jack even longer, and she had no idea if they were okay.

She dropped down to the ground soundlessly and let out a breath. Worry wouldn't help her right now. She was here to save them and that's what she was going to do. Rose raced across the grounds to the shadows offered by the main building, noting the lack of guards and visible cameras as she went.

Definitely expecting her then and trying to lull her into a false sense of complacency by making things easy as well. She had no doubt that her every move was being watched but she went forward with her plan anyways. As long as all eyes were on her, Amy was free to work her magic.

The side door lock was the work of a second and it swung open quietly. She frowned at this further evidence of a trap. She was almost insulted that they were making things so easy. She could have done everything up to this point with her eyes shut.

Rose carefully closed the door behind her and padded down the corridor, mapping the space in her head as she went. Seemed like a fairly standard layout but there was likely a trick hidden somewhere.

A trick or a trap or a combination of both. Rose would put her money on both.

The building was too quiet, too still.

Rose spotted a door that was slightly ajar about halfway down the corridor. A weak beam of light spilled out into the hallway, beckoning her closer. It might as well have been a neon sign in the corridor with a flashing arrow pointed at the door.

 _This is it_ , Rose thought as she inched closer. _No way this is not the trap they've set for me._

She rested her hand on the door and listened hard. Over the hum of the radiator that must be in there she could just make out the soft breathing of several people. Rose closed her eyes, gathering her courage to face whatever was on the other side of the door. Jack's life depended on her being able to get through this. _John_ depended on her being able to get through this and she was not going to let him get away with running off, not when she still had so much to say to him.

Rose tapped on her earpiece three times to signal Amy and then faced the door with a grim look.

She pressed her lips into a thin line as she pushed the door open, wincing at the squeal of the hinges. Rose stepped forward into the dim light, into the baited trap, with her head held high and fear snaking down her spine.

She made it three steps before the sound of a bullet being chambered stopped her in her tracks.

The trap was sprung.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the big bad wolf, finally come out to play."

Rose's eyes snapped to the open doorway across the room where a man was walking in. His voice registered as a threat. It was oily and barbed all at once and her skin crawled at the sound of it.

As soon as he stepped into the light, Rose could confirm what she already knew. It was the Master. He looked just like the photos John had dug up from his failed Parliament run, suit and all.

"I've been waiting for you," the Master said.

"Where's my partner?" Rose demanded.

"I don't think you're in any position to be asking questions," the Master said, moving closer. There was a gun in his hand. He tapped it against his leg in a repetitive rhythm as he surveyed Rose.

"You're not as pretty as I thought you'd be," he said.

Rose bit back the acid response on the tip of her tongue.

"Not going to talk? We'll fix that soon enough." The Master smiled and Rose shivered at the malice contained in the expression.

He stopped a few steps in front of Rose. "Theta didn't want to talk either. Perhaps the two of you will be chattier if you're in the same room." He tilted his head to the side. "You know, you were even easier to catch than he was. It must be such a disappointment for Theta to have to work with someone so incompetent. Must be great in bed to make up for that."

The leer he gave her was contemplative and Rose's stomach turned.

"Not my type," he decided. "Pity."

"You're disgusting," Rose spat.

He ignored her outburst, looking over her shoulder at one of the guards behind her. "Go get Theta and bring him here. Don't tell him we have her. I want to see the look on his face. And bring the ones guarding him back with you. One of these two might decide to try something stupid."

Rose wanted to ask why he kept calling John "Theta" but didn't dare. John had called the Master Koschei a fair few times over the past couple of days and she had to assume that Theta was John's codename from back when he worked with the Master.

She heard footsteps leave the room and another set shuffle closer to her. She glanced over her shoulder and spotted one guard still by the door and another immediately behind her. Two more had come into the room following the Master and stood behind him, guns trained on her.

"Are all these guns necessary?" Rose asked.

"Yes. Are they making you uncomfortable?"

Rose didn't deign to answer him.

"Good," he said, inferring a positive from her non-response. "They're supposed to."

Rose swallowed hard and tried not to let the silence in the room unnerve her as they all waited for John to be fetched.

"Move over there," the Master ordered after a minute. He gestured with his gun for Rose to move towards the blank wall to her right.

"Don't want me with a door at my back?" Rose taunted. "Afraid that if I make a move your guards would miss and shoot you?"

"Shut up," he ordered, voice even. "You're annoying me."

She complied, his calm somehow more terrifying than his anger would have been. Her eyes flit over the formation the guards made behind the Master. They weren't guarding the doors any longer, just him.

It was another minute before she heard footsteps echoing down the hallway.

"You don't have to shove me, I know how to walk," an annoyed voice said. "If he wanted to see me that fast, he would've come upstairs himself instead of calling me like a dog."

Rose's heart lifted at the sound of John's voice. He was alive and well enough to be complaining about things. He'd apparently decided to be difficult and loud, probably hoping to broadcast his position in case she or Jack were around to hear him.

She schooled her face as they neared the doorway she'd entered through, not wanting to give away the depth of her attachment to John for the Master to use against them.

John was pushed into the room, hands secured behind his back. He stumbled forward and shot a fierce glare at the Master before his eyes followed the line of his gun to Rose.

She read shock and fear in his eyes before his gaze shuttered, hiding his emotions.

Rose swallowed hard, and shifted her attention back to the Master who looked smug.

"Reunited at last," he said. "I would think there would be a little bit more emotion at this touching moment."

"Go to hell," John growled. The guard behind him shoved him, sending John to his knees.

"I really thought I would have to work much harder to get the vaunted Team TARDIS in my grasp," the Master said, ignoring John. "Only took a single kidnapping and a strategic lowering of my cyber security around certain files. The two of you practically handed yourselves to me on a silver platter."

"What do you want with us?" Rose asked, tired of him dancing around the point.

The Master turned his hard stare on her, sending fear skittering over her skin. "I want answers and I want to make the both of you pay."


	8. Chapter 8

"You got in my way with that first bank heist of yours," the Master said. "I don't like people getting in my way."

Rose stole a glance at John, wondering if this was really about the Agency job or it was about him.

"It was a bonus to find out one of the people I was searching for was my old friend Theta," the Master continued. He looked at Rose. "We used to be partners, you know."

She didn't respond, already knowing this bit of information.

"Ah, so he told you that much, did he?" He shifted his focus to John who was glaring daggers at him, jaw clenched. "Did you tell her what we did, Theta? Or did you try to hide your multitude of sins?"

Rose saw a flash of pain cross John's face and knew the Master saw it too.

"You tried to hide it!" The Master laughed. "Oh, that's rich. Didn't want her to leave when she found out who you really are?"

The Master turned his gaze back to Rose. "Let me tell you for him. You might regret rushing in here to save him when you find out what he really is."

"Was," John interjected, voice rough. "It's who I was."

The Master waved his free hand at John dismissively, gun not wavering from where it was trained on Rose. "Makes no difference."

"I don't care about his past," Rose insisted.

"Oh, but you should," the Master said. His voice was sickly sweet and Rose wanted to recoil from it. "

"We were killers, little wolf. Assassins. Technically working for the government but they would have disavowed us if asked."

Rose worked to keep her face blank but it felt like she'd been punched in the stomach. She hadn't ever considered this possibility in the millions of half-formed ideas about John's past that she'd dreamed up.

His reasons for trying so hard to bury that part of his life made perfect sense now. She wanted to hug John. She wanted to tear the Master's throat out with her teeth for dredging all this up when John wasn't ready to share.

Rose couldn't do either of those so she settled for glaring at the man who was trying to hurt the man she loved. He would pay for it as soon as she could manage.

He laughed. "Whoever decided you were a wolf has obviously seen that look on your face. Fangs are no good here, not when I have about six guns trained on you."

Rose didn't have an answer for that so she pressed her lips together and kept her mouth shut. She didn't dare look over at John, knowing she wouldn't be able to keep the concern from her expression.

"Not only were we assassins, we were some of the best," the Master continued. "We were trained to be the best and we were successful. A trusted team tasked with the hardest kills. Do you want to know how many missions we ran?"

"I don't care," Rose said.

"You do," the Master said. "I can read it all over your face."

"John isn't a killer anymore and that's all that matters to me," she said.

"Ah, but you didn't know he was a killer before. That changes things," he insisted. "You'll just have to mull it over. Won't she, Theta?" He looked over at John. "I'm sure she'll have plenty of time to think over the fact that she's been fucking a killer for the past year while I figure out what to do with the pair of you. I wonder how long it will take before she decides she wants nothing to do with you."

"Fuck off," John said, anger bubbling under the two brusque syllables.

"Or maybe I'll just kill her so there's one less person to deal with around here."

John growled.

"But not yet of course. We haven't even started to delve into her secrets," the Master said.

A wave of unease rolled over Rose.

"Don't you want to know all about Miss Rose Marion Tyler's past?"

Rose shivered at the sound of her name on his tongue, unnerved by the way he said it, by the fact that he _knew_ it.

"Yes, I do know your name, little flower," he said, correctly reading the shock on her face. "I know more than that, even."

"You don't know anything about me." Rose heard the uncertainty in her own voice and she hated that it was entirely real.

"Oh, but I do," the Master said, smile growing. "I bet you haven't told your precious John here where you come from."

"He knows enough," Rose said, head spinning as she tried to figure out what he could know.

"Does he know that you're nothing more than a chav off the estates who dropped out of school? That you dropped out to run away with a boy?"

Rose's blood thrummed through her, waiting to see if he knew anything of the rest of her story.

"Ran away to play the whore for a year only to come home and watch her mother die," he continued. "That's who _you've_ aligned yourself with, Theta. Quite the step down. Your little flower is nothing more than a common thief with a common, sordid past and it's time you see that."

Rose knew that her past wouldn't matter to John, especially not these tiny tidbits that the Master had dug up. It didn't stop the fear from rising as she wondered if he'd found anything else and if he'd disclose it before she could tell it to John herself.

She let her head drop, gathering herself for her next move and listening to the sudden chatter over her earbud as Amy moved forward with her side of the plan.

"Don't you see it?" The Master urged. "She's nothing and she knows it."

"She's a million times better than you," John shot back.

"You're deluded," the Master said.

Rose was done letting the Master think he was able to trod all over her and John. It was time to change the game.

She swallowed her fear and let it sing through her veins, let it make her more dangerous in her awareness and acceptance of it. Then she raised her head and looked the Master dead in the eye, letting every mask drop.

Rose snarled, showing her teeth in what was was a clear threat, every inch the wolf she had named herself.

The Master looked a bit taken aback at her sudden shift.

John shivered as he watched Rose turn cold for the second time since he'd known her. It was just as disconcerting and terrifying when aimed at someone else as it had been when she'd turned that icy gaze on him.

"You think you've got me all figured out, don't you?" Rose taunted, stepping closer to the Master, completely ignoring the gun he had trained on her and the way his bodyguards all stepped closer. "You did a bit of research and discovered bits of my sob story but you don't understand a single goddamn thing."

"I think you'll find that I do," he argued, trying to regain control of the situation as Rose began to wrest it away.

"For someone who thinks so much, you're wrong a lot," she shot back. "But honestly, you really don't understand. You bring up my past, hoping that reminding me of it will cripple me, hoping to remind me that I'm just some chav off the estate that needs to remember what her place is. But there's something you didn't count on because you don't understand me at all."

"Please, little flower, enlighten us all," he sneered.

"I know I'm a chav off the estate. I'm not ashamed of my past and I haven't tried to forget it," she said, voice frightening in its evenness. "My past doesn't cripple me, it just makes me stronger because I made it through more than your research will ever let on."

The Master rolled his eyes but John could tell he was off balance now that Rose was no longer playing the trembling thief he'd expected her to be.

"You keep calling me a little flower like that's meant to demean me as well," she continued, not letting him get a word in. "Well, I've been a flower my whole life, long before I named myself a wolf. You'd do well to remember exactly what kind of flower I am."

"That's what you're building up to?" the Master said, voice dripping in condescension. "A threat that roses have thorns? You're exactly what I expected. A pretty little thing with no brains. Don't know what Theta sees in you."

Rose smiled and it almost sent shivers down the Master's spine. For a fraction of a second, he considered that _maybe_ this girl had potential, that she wasn't the weak link in the partnership. He almost recognized the familiar spark of ruthless genius that burned bright and cold behind her eyes.

Almost.

"That's because you've always been remarkably shortsighted for someone who calls himself a genius. Yes, roses have thorns." She took another step forward, not taking her eyes of the Master, continuing to disregard the gun pointed at her chest. "They're also the flower of love."

The Master sneered. "So?"

"You've never understood love and therefore you'll never understand me," Rose continued. "That gives me the advantage."

"No, it just makes you weak."

Rose's expression hardened further. "No, it makes me stronger," she said. "You hurt the people I love and I will not stand for it."

"All your monologuing about the 'power of love' and all this flower mumbo jumbo won't do you any good," The Master said. He motioned for John to be brought to him.

The guards pulled him to his feet and shoved him forward. John pushed back against the hand on his shoulder with a growl. That earned him a hard push, sending him to his knees once again, this time next to the Master.

John heard the metallic click of a gun being readied to fire right behind him.

"I have both of you where I want you. The mighty Doctor and his little pet wolf at gunpoint and finally at my mercy."

"Like you ever had any of that," John spat.

The Master motioned to the guard and they decked John in the jaw. John's eyes strayed back to Rose as the blow reverberated through his head, barely catching her flinch.

The Master's smile was cold as he turned his gaze to his old partner. "You're right."

John snarled at him, blood staining his teeth red.

"Anyways, I have you, I have Rose here, and Jack is down in a very disagreeable cell in my basement. I believe that's the entirety of your little gang of miscreants. No one left to rescue you." The Master looked positively gleeful. "I win."

John watched as Rose tilted her head to her side like she could hear something he couldn't. A smile spread across her face and something akin to hope began to bloom in his chest. Of course she still had a plan, she always did.

He should have known from the start that the only way she would've gotten caught was by design. His lips twitched up in a smile to match hers, ready to see exactly what Rose had up her sleeve.

"Are you sure about that?" Rose asked.

The Master faltered for a fraction of a second. "Of course I am."

"Because I'm thinking that lack of understanding about things like love and friendship are about to bite you in the arse," she said. Her eyes were hard, unforgiving. Ruthless.

"What the hell are you talking about? You're the ones captured at gunpoint."

"I think she's talking about us," Amy said, as she put a gun to the back of the Master's head. She cocked it, the sound echoing in the suddenly silent room.

A motley crew of criminals had the Master's bodyguards at their mercy. John recognized most of them but not all. They'd snuck in while everyone's attention was on Rose and the Master's conversation and surrounded them.

There was a brief scuffle as the guards fought back but Rose's crew quickly subdued and disarmed them. A blonde with cargo pants and her hair in a high ponytail made quick work of John's restraints and helped him to his feet.

John didn't take his eyes off Rose who was staring down the Master. His old enemy still had his gun pointed at her, uncaring that Amy was ready to blow his brains out at any move she didn't like.

Rose stepped closer, almost coming into contact with the barrel of the Master's gun. "I win," she whispered. Before he could make another move, her fist came up and made hard contact with his face.

He staggered backwards. Amy swung her gun and cracked it against the side of the man's head. He went down in an ungraceful heap.

John lurched forward just as Rose turned to face him. His breath caught at the anger blazing in her eyes, but it was fire now instead of a cold burn and so he kept moving towards her until he had her wrapped up in his arms.

Her grip on him was tight and he winced at the pressure on what were sure to be some colorful mementos of his stay in the Master's stronghold.

"Are you okay?" Rose asked.

"Little banged up but nothing major," he said, mouth right next to her ear as he continued to cling to her. "You saved me, Rose."

She pulled back and thumped a hand against his chest. "I'm _so_ angry with you. You ran off without me and I was so _worried_!"

"I'm sorry, Rose," John said. "I was stupid."

"You were," she agreed.

"I wanted to keep you safe."

She shook her head. "You should know by now that I don't need taking care of."

He cupped her cheek with one hand, still marvelling that she was here and safe and hopefully not done with him. "I know."

She leaned forward and rested her forehead against his chest, making his hand drop from her face. "I'm going to yell at you later. A lot."

John squeezed her tighter. "Okay."

"Well, aren't you two a sight for sore eyes."

John and Rose pulled apart with matching expressions of happiness at the sound of Jack's voice.

"Jack!" Rose cried.

She ran towards him and skidded to a stop a few feet away, taking in his appearance. He was leaning on her friend Donna. Numerous bruises and cuts were visible but his smile was as bright and irreverent as always. He'd definitely taken a beating but the Master hadn't broken him.

"Hey Rosie, hell of a rescue you engineered. Thought I told you not to worry about me."

"You had to know we wouldn't just leave you here!"

"I'm glad you're here," Jack said. "Hospitality in this place was terrible."

John walked up behind Rose and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Good to see you, Jack."

"Likewise."

"You done playing damsel in distress for a bit?"

Jack grinned. "I'll always be a damsel in distress for the two of you. Next time I'll try to dress the part, though."

Rose groaned and Donna laughed.

"Is he always like this?" she asked.

"Yes," Rose and John answered in unison.

"You and I are going to get a drink when you're better," Donna told Jack.

Jack winked at her. "You got it, sweetheart."

"Hey Rose, what do you want us to do with this lot?" Amy called.

Rose turned and saw that everyone had been tied up. The blonde with the ponytail had her gun trained on the still unconscious Master. "Jenny? You know anyone who would want them?"

Her smile was a sharp thing. "I can think of a couple intelligence agencies off the top of my head."

"No one even slightly connected to the Agency or the Lungbarrow Project," John cut in. "He has ties to both of those and they would try to use him instead of punishing him."

"Noted," Jenny said with a nod. "Clara says hello, by the way. She wanted to come but she would've shot somebody so I convinced her to stay sidelined as support. She'll get the right people here, though."

John's mouth quirked up into a smile. "You're the soldier girlfriend, then?"

"That's me."

He nodded. "Pick the organization you want to turn them over to and then have Clara get them here."

"How do you feel about UNIT?" Jenny asked.

"Good rep for trying to do the right thing," John said. "Good choice."

"Clara said you owe her a few recipes for her help," Jenny said after a moment. Clara was obviously talking to her through an earbud.

"I'll make sure to get them to her," he promised.

He turned back to Rose. "Do we need to do anything else here besides clear out?"

"We've got what we came for," Rose said. "You're safe. Jack's safe and Amy already volunteered to take him home so Rory can tend to his injuries. The Master has been taken down. That's everything on my checklist besides yelling at you but we're doing that later."

John smiled, still just marvelling that she wanted anything to do with him. "Let's go home, then."

Rose pulled out a couple of their calling cards from her pocket. "Want to leave these?"

He shook his head. "Let's save them for the banks. Besides, I didn't do a great job on working as a team this go round."

Rose arched an eyebrow. "Glad you're admitting it. Thought I was going to have to remind you the meaning of TARDIS."

"Duly remembered. I won't be forgetting it again."

Amy reached over Rose's shoulder and plucked one of the cards out of Rose's hand. "I have so many questions for the two of you but for now I want one of these as a keepsake."

Rose rolled her eyes. "You could've just asked."

"Takes the fun out of it." Amy plucked the comms device out of her ear and handed it to Rose. "If I was still in the game, I'd be commissioning some of these."

Rose hugged Amy quickly. "Thanks so much for your help, Ames."

"Anytime."

Rose thanked everyone else for their help, made sure they had everything under control, and gave Jack a lingering hug before slipping her hand into John's. They walked out the front door of the Master's stronghold hand in hand and disappeared into the inky darkness.


	9. Chapter 9

By the time they reached Rose's flat, John felt as though he was moving through molasses. Heightened emotions mixed with a lack of sleep and being on the wrong side of an adrenaline rush conspired with the ache of his injuries to weigh him down.

Nerves buzzed through him, though, keeping him alert. Rose hadn't said a word since they left the Master's stronghold and the silence was stretching between them, growing brittle.

Rose locked the door of the flat behind them and leaned back against the door, eyes closed.

She took a deep breath but didn't open her eyes. "Go put on the kettle," she said. "I'm going to go dig some paracetamol out of my bag. There should be a bag of frozen peas in the back of the freezer you can use as an icepack."

"Rose," he started, not entirely sure what he wanted to say but needing to say something.

She held up a hand and opened her eyes to pin him with an inscrutable look. "Not yet. Let's get tea and medicine first then we can talk."

She pushed off the door and made for her bedroom, leaving John standing in the middle of the sitting room staring after her. He swallowed hard then shuffled towards the kitchen to put the kettle on, as directed.

He was in the middle of pouring the boiling water over the teabags when Rose came in. She put the bottle of paracetamol on the counter next to the mugs and stepped around him to rummage in the freezer. She pulled out the bag of frozen peas she'd mentioned and handed it to him.

"Your ribs probably need ice and I don't have proper ice packs." Rose's eyes flickered to his jaw and he figured he probably had a bruise rising there as well.

"Frozen peas are better than any ice pack," he said. He didn't question her knowing that his ribs were throbbing, she'd felt him flinch earlier when she'd hugged him. He pressed the bag against his side, wincing at the cold.

"Go sit, I'll finish the tea."

"I can help. Not a complete invalid, me."

"Go, John." She said. Her hands shook as she took out the teabags. "Please."

John acquiesced with a nod he wasn't entirely sure she saw. He took the bottle of paracetamol with him.

He sat on the same end of the sofa he'd occupied while he and Rose had devised a plan he hadn't followed. He shook a couple of pills into his palm and popped them into his mouth, dryswallowing them. His eyes fell on the detritus of the plan still scattered across the coffee table as he put the bottle down.. He leaned closer, wincing as his ribs protested. This wasn't the plan as he'd last seen it - it was the plan she'd hatched to save him.

Elements of her original plan had been cannibalized into this one and seeing everything laid out like this took his breath away. It was incredibly complex, contained numerous moving parts and required flawless timing. It was amazing that she had come up it in so short a time and that it had worked so flawlessly.

"Had to come up with something on the fly since you went off on your own and got captured," Rose said.

John jumped, not having heard her walk into the room. "It's a brilliant plan."

She shrugged and set down the two mugs of tea on top of the paper-laden table. She settled herself on the other end of the sofa from him and picked up her mug.

The two feet of space between them felt like a chasm.

"I'm sorry, Rose," he said after the silence stretched too far for his frayed nerves. "I wasn't thinking-"

"But you were thinking, that's the problem," Rose cut in, eyes flashing. "You thought up your own plan and didn't say a word to me."

"I was wrong," John said, leaning towards her slightly. "I was scared and it made me stupid. Koschei always liked to destroy things just because someone else liked them and I was terrified that he would get his hands on you."

"So you tried to cut me out."

"I tried to keep you safe," he amended. "I knew you wouldn't like it and I still did it because I couldn't handle the thought of you not being safe. Taking him down wasn't worth it if he hurt you." He took a deep breath, let it out. "If I could keep you safe, I would let everything else burn to do it."

"You can't wrap me up in cotton wool and tuck me away, John. I'm not fragile and you don't to get to make these decisions for me," Rose said.

"I know."

"Do you? Or are you going to do this again if things get sticky? We keep each other safe by staying together, by having each other's backs."

"Rose, I am never going to do anything like this ever again," he swore.

Rose closed her eyes, pressing her lips together as she tried to compose herself. She clutched her almost empty tea mug tighter and brought her gaze up to meet his. "How can I know that you mean that, John? I didn't think you would do it this time."

Her voice wavered and John felt his heart crack.

"Do you know how worried I was when I found your note and realized what you had done? When I realized that the fact that you weren't already back meant that the Master had you? I wasn't mad at you, I was terrified that I'd lost you."

She paused, letting it sink in. "Did you think about how you would feel if you found a note like that from me?"

He shook his head mutely, unable to speak through the lump in his throat. He didn't have words even if he could speak.

"I didn't think so."

"I'm so sorry, Rose," he rasped out.

"I know you are, but you made me feel like you don't trust me. I can't do this again, John. I can't keep letting you cut me to pieces like this."

John couldn't stay apart from her, not when she was hurting and he at least had a hope of making it better. He closed the distance between them and carefully took the tea mug from her hands. He set it on the table and then took her hands in his.

"I do trust you, Rose. I'm sorry I made you feel like I don't. I know how important trust is to you and I still trampled on it. What can I do to make this up to you?"

"I don't know. I'm not sure it's something we can fix right away."

He squeezed her hands. "I'm willing to put in however much time and effort is required, so long as you let me try. Just let me try to put things to rights with us. Please."

Rose looked puzzled for a moment, then she smiled at him, a quavering thing packed full of emotions. "You daft man. You think that I'm going to send you packing? I'm not letting you out of my sight after the stunt you pulled."

"Thank god for that," he breathed, pulling her into a hug.

They melted into each other. John let out a breath, feeling like a weight had been taken off his chest.

"You know, I thought this conversation would involve a lot more yelling than it has," he said, nuzzling into the side of her neck.

"I thought it would too," she admitted, "but I am just so relieved that you're alright. I was so worried and scared and I don't think it's all gone yet. I still feel hollow, somehow."

"I'm here," he reassured her. He pulled back so he could cup her face in her hands. "I'm here and you saved me and we're going to work things out."

"Best possible outcome," she said with a smile. "I reserve the right to yell at you later, still, though."

"You can yell at me all you want," he promised.

She tilted forward and pressed her lips to his. He welcomed her in, letting her lead the kiss wherever she wanted. For his part, he just tried to pour everything he felt for her into it and hoped she understood.

She deserved more than just his hope, though. They'd had too many miscommunications already, he didn't want this to be another on the list.

He eased back from the kiss.

"I love you," he whispered into the small space between their lips.

Rose surged forward and kissed him hard. She pulled back to look at him, eyes shining. "I love you, too. Only took us almost getting ourselves killed to finally say it."

"It's a solid motivator," he said with a grin.

"Let's not wait for the next near-death experience to say it again."

"Your wish, my command," he said, leaning forward to gently brush his lips over hers. "I love you." He kissed her again, longer this time but still achingly soft. "I love you."

"I love you so much," she whispered when she finally could speak again.

"I don't know how I got so lucky," he said. "Especially now that you know."

The spectre of their pasts, dragged into the present by the Master, made her sit back far enough to look at him properly.

"Knowing what made you into who you are doesn't change who you are," Rose said. She reached up and cupped his cheek, thumb catching on his stubble as she brushed it across his skin in a soft caress. She was careful to avoid the bruise on his jaw. "And I love who you are. I love all of you, John, not just the good parts."

He turned his face and pressed a kiss into her palm, too overcome to say anything.

"I'm sorry he dredged all of this up when you weren't ready," she said.

"I'm sorry he went digging around in your past too," John replied, voice rough.

Rose shrugged but the lingering distress in her eyes belied the nonchalant gesture. "He barely scratched the surface of my past. Most of it's not on any record, public or otherwise, so he wouldn't be able to find it."

"Still, it wasn't his story to tell."

"No, it wasn't. But I do want to tell you, John. Just not tonight. I think we've had enough of the bad tonight. I vote we leave our pasts buried for just a bit longer."

"Not too much longer," John decided. "I think I'm ready to tell you about what I've done. No more secrets. They're not doing us any good."

"No more secrets," she agreed. "And no more dishonesty between us."

"No more."

They sealed the promise with a kiss.

"Let's go to bed," Rose whispered. "I'm not quite tired enough to sleep on this couch but it's a close thing. I was looking forward to makeup sex but it's going to have to wait."

John chuckled. "We'll finish making up tomorrow and you can yell at me and then we can jump each other."

"Hey, I'm supposed to be the one with the plans around here," Rose teased.

"I will defer to any changes you wish to make."

"Suck up."

He raised his eyebrows and she flushed.

"I'll meet you in the bedroom," he said, standing up. He snagged the half defrosted bag of peas from where they'd ended up on the floor. "Gotta put these away."

"I want a full account of your injuries and what happened to you later, too," she said. The last few words she said were obscured by a yawn.

"Bed."

"Hurry up and put the peas away and join me."

Rose had already slipped into her pajama shirt when John entered the room. She crawled into bed and wriggled under the covers.

John joined her as soon as he'd stripped down to his pants. He turned off the lamp and curled around her, tucking her into his body.

His heart settled, at peace here in this quiet moment with the woman he loved.

The last thing Rose heard before drifting off to sleep was John quietly telling her again that he loved her.

He was still there when she woke up in the morning, the same words on his lips. She whispered them back before kissing him hello.


	10. Epilogue

"We should go check on Jack," Rose said as she sipped her cup of tea. John was making breakfast.

"He's at Amy's place, yeah?"

"Yeah. Rory's a nurse and we figured he could patch Jack up since he would refuse hospital." She looked John over, lingering on all the places she knew he was bruised. "Maybe he could look you over while we're there, just to be safe."

"I don't think I've got anything worse than bruises and scrapes," John said. He slid eggs onto plates and collected the toast.

"Couldn't hurt, though."

"If it will make you feel better, I'll let Rory check my injuries." He put a plate down in front of her and took a seat across the table."

"Thank you."

They finished their breakfast and got ready to leave the flat. Rose texted Amy that they were coming over to see Jack and then they headed out.

Rory answered the door. "Thanks for making sure Amy got home in one piece," he said after greeting the pair of them.

"Pretty sure she was the one who made sure I got out in one piece," Rose answered with a smile.

"Damn right I was," Amy said, stepping into the hallway. "Hello you two."

"Hey Ames. How's the patient doing?" Rose asked.

"He's awake and doing fine," she said.

"He's on good painkillers," Rory said. "At least one cracked rib and some heavy bruising. He's going to need to stay still for a bit to let himself heal."

John snorted. "Good luck getting him to do that."

Rose elbowed him. "Rory, would you mind looking at John's injuries while we're here? We don't think it's anything serious but I'd feel better with a medical professional's opinion."

"Sure," Rory agreed. He looked at John. "Want to get it over with now?"

"Why not." Rory led them into another room to do his examination.

Amy turned to give Rose an appraising look. "Looks like the two of you made up. Faster than I expected."

Rose gave her a small smile. "We actually sat down and talked about things instead of avoiding them."

Amy made an exaggerated expression of surprise. "Wonder of wonders, I thought I'd have to lock you in a room together or something."

"Never would have worked."

"Don't underestimate me," Amy said with raised eyebrows.

"Never. And you were right by the way," Rose said.

"Music to my ears," Amy cut in.

Rose continued without acknowledging Amy's words. "We both just needed to lay things out and stop hiding everything."

"So things really are okay with the two of you?"

Rose nodded. "More than okay, really. We still have work to do but I think we're in a better place to do it now."

Amy hugged her. "I'm so glad."

Rory and John stepped back out into the hallway.

"Clean bill of health," John said when Rose raised an inquiring eyebrow at him.

"Wouldn't go quite that far," Rory said. "Remember to keep icing things and keep the cuts cleaned and bandaged," Rory instructed.

Rose smiled at him. "Thank you, Rory. I'll make sure he follows orders."

She winked at John who just rolled his eyes.

"I'm going to take them in to see Jack," Amy said. "You're welcome to come with but we're going to be talking criminal things."

Rory held up his hands, wry smile playing over his lips. "I would like to maintain plausible deniability. Let me know if you need anything."

Amy leaned over and planted a kiss on his cheek before leading John and Rose to her guest room where she'd installed Jack.

"Rosie! John!" Jack exclaimed from the bed as soon as they entered the room. "Was wondering if you two were going to come by for a visit."

"Had to make sure you were alright," Rose said. She sat gently on the edge of the bed. John took one of the chairs that looked like they'd been dragged in from the dining room. Amy took the other.

"Doing fine, as usual," Jack said with a broad smile. "Plus Amy's handsome man has me on the good stuff."

"I will fight you for him and I will win," Amy warned lightly.

"I'm open to sharing," Jack insisted, giving her a good natured leer.

Amy laughed. "You never stop do you?"

"He doesn't," John confirmed.

"Are the two of you alright?" Jack asked, looking between his two best friends. "You disappeared last night."

"We said goodbye," Rose protested.

"Still disappeared before anyone else."

"And we're both fine," John told him. "You've got most of the damage from this whole ordeal."

"Did UNIT come and collect the Master?" Rose asked Amy.

"Yeah. They showed up about ten minutes after you left. They were over the moon that someone had finally captured the guy red-handed. Apparently they'd been looking for a reason to arrest him for ages. I think they mostly chose to pretend that we weren't a rag-tag group of criminals. Jenny gave us some credibility on that front."

"What are they going to do with him?" John asked, voice tight.

"They wouldn't tell us," Amy said with a grimace.

"I hope he rots," Jack said. His nod was decisive.

"I'll see if I can find out and let you know," John said. "I'd guess they put him at a blacksite though, especially if they wouldn't even hint at what they were doing with him."

"Any chance of him ever escaping one of those?" Rose asked.

"Very slim but not impossible," John said. "He's slippery but those places are built to hold people like him."

"Well, I think I'll echo Jack in saying that I hope he rots," Amy said. She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "Now, I want the dirt on the fact that the two of you are apparently the bank robbers who've taken the world by storm. I can't believe I didn't know!"

"Jack's the only one who knew," Rose explained. "And that's only because he was the one who brought us together."

Jack grinned. "I'm an excellent matchmaker."

"You are determined, I'll give you that," John said.

"I had to put up with the two of you pretending not to obsess over each other for a _year_ after the Agency job."

"Hold on, that was you two too? That heist was epic."

"First job we worked together," John said.

Amy pinned Rose with a look. "So he's the bloke who had you all steamed for a year?"

"Oh thank god I wasn't the only one having to put up with them," Jack said.

"I had good reason to be mad," Rose said. She shot a glare at John who had the audacity to grin at her.

"So then the two of you got back together to rob a bank?"

"Yeah, Jack needed us to pull the job. It was related to the Agency heist. After that, we ended up deciding to team up," Rose explained.

"Bit bumpier than they make it sound," Jack put in.

"Oh, I can believe that," Amy said.

"If the two of you are just going to poke fun at as, we can leave," Rose said.

"No, don't go yet," Amy said. "How did you come up with your names? What does TARDIS mean?"

Rose raised an eyebrow at John who smiled slightly and shook his head.

"That's a secret I think John and I will keep," Rose said.

"Spoilsports," Amy pouted.

Jack's eyes were starting to flutter shut. "I was hoping they'd tell you," he said. "I still don't know what the hell it means either."

"Get some rest, Jack," Rose said quietly. "We'll come visit again soon."

"You better," he said.

"Get better soon," John said, resting his hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Yes, sir." Jack gave him a cheeky salute and John rolled his eyes, letting out a huff of laughter.

"Still never going to convince me you were actually a captain," he said.

Jack just smiled. The expression was still on his face when he drifted off to sleep.

The trio tiptoed back out into the hallway.

"So, dinner soon? After Jack's out of our guest room, of course."

"Name the date and we'll be here," John promised.

Rose looked at him, surprise registering on her face for a moment at his enthusiasm for the dinner party he'd reluctantly agreed to before.

"Perfect," Amy said, grinning. "Now, off with the pair of you. I'm sure you still have some making up to do and I want my fiancé to myself for an hour or two while Jack is sleeping."

"Yes ma'am," Rose said with a laugh.

Amy gave both of them quick hugs and sent them on their way, promising to pass on their farewells to Rory.

Back out on the street, John and Rose twined their fingers together and set off towards Rose's flat and a future that looked brighter than ever.

/ /

Four months later a bank in Brussels found an embossed card taped to the front door of their establishment.

The ivory card had a blue police box embossed on the front along with the words "Team TARDIS." On the back, in flowing gold script, the familiar names of "The Doctor and the Bad Wolf" seemed to wink up at whoever read them with a mischievous glint.

The famed duo were back in business for the new year and the authorities who had hoped they'd stopped grimly dusted off the files on Team TARDIS. They were starting to get the feeling that chasing them was a useless endeavor.

The Doctor and the Bad Wolf were unstoppable and they were just getting started.

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* * *

 **Author's Note:** And here we are at the end, once more. Thank you all for sticking with this fic despite my frequent and lengthy delays in updating it. It really, truly means the world to me.

It's an odd feeling knowing that I'm done telling this story. I've lived with this story for over four years (Yes, four years. Watch it Burn started posting in April 2014, back when it was a short one-shot. Look how that turned out!) and I'm both relieved that it is finally now out in the world in its entirety and sad that it is over. This series, this verse, will always have a very special place in my heart. It represents the first time I stepped out onto that limb of writing a big multichaptered project and the John and Rose that inhabit these stories will forever be my very favorite pair of idiots (as I affectionately refer to them). I find myself stealing bits of them for some of my other Nine/Rose AUs, even.

It saddens me to be saying goodbye to them, but - BUT - it's not a forever goodbye. Not yet. While this is the last big fic in this verse, I do plan to add two or three short one-shots, still. So, if you're also dreading saying goodbye to this pair of criminals and their motley crew of friends, keep an eye out. They'll be back to say hello a time or two more. And of course, they're always here to welcome you back into their drama whenever you want to see them.


End file.
